Sound of Madness
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: What if Naruto awoke after Team Seven's encounter with Orochimaru? What might he have done? Would he protect his Teammates? Or would he abandon them and leave them for dead? We all know the answer to this question, Dattebayo! NarutoxSakura Major FLUFF.
1. Madness

Sakura felt the fist smash into her face and she clamped down with her teeth. Her victim snarled and renewed his assault, heedless of the kunai driving itself deeper into his arm with every moment, he never slowed, only renewing his attack upon her visage again and again and again, each blow flaring the world a different color for Sakura. Amidst the pain, she felt herself slipping, She squeezed eyes shut and tasted blood in her mouth and she refused to gag when she swallowed.

"Bitch! Leggo a' me!"

She shook her head against these strong arms, one that instantly drew down upon her skull for a renewed session of beating. A small hurricane roiled behind her skull, her body shaking and shivering from every knuckle that did connect, which was rather often. She wept, hot tears squeezing through her eyes as she squeezed them shut. She retaliated, levering her body up enough to drop a knee into his solar plexus, and she had the satisfaction of the air whooshing from his lungs as she drove the knife deeper.

Someone screamed.

Sakura screamed, and abruptly, she was fighting for her life, clinging to him with her teeth and arms, knowing that to do anything else was to die.

Within that eternity of blows and beatings, Sakura wondered at what she might see. Most likely Sasuke-kun. But no, these painful hallucinations did not include Sasuke Uchiha. Instead, a messy mop of platinum blond obscured her every scene. Tethered to a smiling face just as, if not more so, brighter than his hair. Sakura blinked, eyes opening and closing with an infinite and agonizing slowness. He was the one she was thinking of, now of all times, now, when she was so close to death?

A cold chill settled upon her shoulders.

_"Naruto?"_

Uzumaki Naruto.

That crazy, loud, goofy, stupid, handsome, wonderful, sexy-

Sakura slammed the lid down on that thought, but she could not silence the cry that had already escaped her lips. _Thump_. There was a dull and wet thud, as Zaku's fist smashed into her skull for the upteenth time and then she was done. Sakura pushed the kunai as deep as she dare, felt it strike bone and sinew and tissue, and then it was over. Cold fury burned the world white as the snarling burst of sound and pressure raked across her skin, spewing from his palm and dragging itself over her body.

_'Huh. I'm about to die and I can't get him out of my head.'_

Sakura flew with all the force of a hurricane. Literally. Her feet left the ground leaving her to tumble backward in an uncontrolled retreat, cratering the ground once, twice, three times before her body finally decided enough was enough and brought her to a skidding halt, resting on her elbows for support. Blood dribbled from her lips as the Otogakure shinobi stalked toward her, snarling at the other two when they began to follow his advance.

"Dosu! Kin! Stay the fuck put! I'll kill her myself!" Sakura stared into that blood flecked face, saw the kunai sticking through muscle and tissue, and she was afraid. Fear filled her every pore as he came toward her, malice in his eyes, hatred in his heart. She watched those lips twist into a barbed wire of a grin, sadistic, sardonic, and promising pain, pain, and more pain. She watched him lurch forward at her as she tried and failed to lean back on her haunches. No good. She'd torn something during the fall. She couldn't move, so she was forced to watch, _watch _as Zaku cleared the distance between them with nary a sound, reached down, seized her by the throat, and hoisted her into the air.

"_Biiiiiiitch_...

"I will not allow you to do such a thing!"

Sakura's world filled with an impossible shade of neon green as she saw Lee sweep himself off the floor. Incredibly, the spandex clad genin had been able to rise for a third time, and already even as the one known as "Dosu" came after him, the boy was too fast. Much, much too fast Sakur saw, emerald eyes flying wide as he bellowed forward at Zaku. The latter arched an eyebrow and raising his free hand within a sound of pure and wordless fury, opening it to reveal the stream of air gushing outward from the hole in his hand.

"Persistent little bug!"

Sakura watched those bushy brows lift in disbelief even as the strangled scream left her lips.

"LEE!"

Sakura watched and wailed as Rock Lee hurled himself forward and swung toward them, his heel bridging the gap that separated him from a successful strike. For a moment, just a moment, it seemed as though he might make it. This was not to be. Sakura watched the world fade into crystal clear focus as the geyser of pressure burst from Zaku's hand, twisting ankle and body alike at an awkward angle a millisecond before impact. Helpless to do anything other than look on and lament, she keened aloud, a sound of such woe that it would break the heart of any man, and still a supersonic wave of sound hurtled into the green genin, threw him off target and into the ground.

"Aw, look." Zaku snickered. "Kid's getting up again."

Sakura screamed and was muffled against his fingers as Rock Lee did just that, and tried to stand.

_'Just stay down. Oh gods, Lee, PLEASE just stay down..._

He lay there in a twisted gaggle of limbs, tried to rise, failed, and did not move again.

_No!_

Cold fury burned the world white and with it, came an inexplicable surge of strength.

"Eh?" Zaku blinked, eyes widening slightly as that emerald turquoise gaze leveled upon him with a startling level of ferocity.

Sakura shrieked, heel snapping outward with incredible force. Zaku bent double, as she found her mark, crushing hsi groin with incredible force. Zaku wheezed, grip slackening in the same instant that she felt something snap between her ankle and thigh. Sakura screamed alongside him, realizing all too late that he'd taken her kunai and rammed it through her thigh. She stared down, eyes large as the pool of blood began to spill from the wound.

If not for that, if not for the alarming shade the Oto-shinobi was flushing, a deep and violent purple, Sakura might've found her scenario altogether amusing, but for the renewed assault and the crushing forces upon her windpipe.

"You bitch!" Zaku was livid. "You almost _neutered _me, you you stupid piece of-

Sakura felt the oxygen leaching from her lungs, the color fading from her face as she struggled against the incredible vice. Dark. Everything was becoming dark. So dark. Her world was fading, changing to a mottled black, spotted as she struggled to free herself from Zaku's grip. Despair flowered inside Sakura, as she felt the first fractures an instant from forming. Even if he released her an instant to this moment, she'd have permanent damage.

And Sakura would have, had not she slapped an explosive tag to his chest. Zaku realized it in the instant that she closed her eyes and anticipated the explosion. The tag fizzled, and a bright white-hot flare exploded between them. Sakura braced herself for the pain and the pain came. The force of the explosion was such that she was violently dislodged. Dislodged, as the roiling fireball and shrieking gale smashed into Zaku's very much unprotected flank. Dislodged, and swept away, the air rushing from her lungs in a painful whoosh. She hit the ground, hard.

Sakura screamed, but hers was one of pain and Zaku's was a furious fellow as he leveled his good arm upon her.

"DIE!"

Zaku spun around quickly, slamming a supersonic burst of Air Cutter into Sakura's body. With a surprised grunt, the pale-skinned shinobi went flying through the clearing, a trail of dark blood following her body through the flickering light and shadows of the clearing. Her limp body slammed into the earth once gravity took hold of her, skidding across the grass and gravel as the momentum continued to drag her over the dirt. Her hands were suddenly free, and impossibly enough, they carried her over blood spattered ground as Sakura clapped both palms upon them and reached for a kunai, fully aware of what Zaku could do her projectile, should she hurl it toward him.

Again she pictured Naruto. Wrapping a strap of her dress around the sopping wound, Sakura hurriedly bandaged it, with what little she knew of medicine. She wouldn't bleed to death yet, but this, as with all wounds, required urgent attention. The one thing she could not give. Sakura's breath caught in her throat and she found that her legs refused to move suddenly, as Zaku loomed up before her and shoved his hand into her face, the beginnings of another pressure wave already building and roiling behind the latch of his hand.

_'Why did you have to say that?' _Sakura rose up on shaken legs, feeling as though she truly had perished alongside the blond. _'What the am I supposed to do now?_' Gazing into the silent canopy that was the Forest of Death, she noticed the sudden and ominous presence of crimson swelling upward, toward the treetops. Peppered by familiar flashes of white violet bolts that were lightning, and the sharp and foreign rumble that she so rarely heard, that of the thunder and of the storm.

_'What am I going to do, Naruto...what can I do? You can't, I can't...'_

"You stupid bitch!"

With a violent explosion, the world burst like an overripe grape. Sakura tumbled down to the earth, groaning as her face cushioned the fall. Naturally the man laughed at her and this only served to irk the Haruno further as she cursed her powerlessness. Furious with both herself and her tormentor, she struggled to rise. The boot in her back crushed that brief flicker of defiance and ground it down in the soil alongside her face.

_Is this it?_

Sakura gasped and sobbed and struggled to breathe but nothing came._ Is this all the backbone I have_? She had _just _enough strength to turn an eye toward Naruto and Sasuke, to indulge herself with one final glimpse of the teammates she was about to fail. _This is Pathetic._She felt the tears welling up but she refused to gratify the enemy with her misery. _Pathetic!_Impossibly, as she stared, Naruto seemed to move, twitch, blink, and open his eyes. Sakura blinked again, but the blond was still there, still unmoving, still silent, still sleeping and-

**"Its sad." **A hollow voice resounded throughout the clearing. **"How you've managed to hurt her _and _anger me at the same time."**

Another sound rose through the air.

It was a voice of the gentle sort, that she was more than familiar with. She froze, her skin crawling beneath the sound. Jaded green held no anger, no spite, no scorn, not even the faintest glimmer of disdain, as she turned and saw a glimmer of red in the gloom. of which broken hearts could only dream. All the money in the world could not buy such a sight. No, nothing could hope to place any sort of monetary value upon this matchless scene that lay before her. It truly was a sight for sore eyes, and hers stung and burned as though they might explode. Squeezing at her voice and throat in an entirely different manner that before, Sakura's heart slammed against her breast, threatening to burst out of her chest.

**"Sakura...**

She froze and heard the name repeat into of itself countless times.

**"Who...**

He was alive. Kami, he looked like crap. His hair matted down with blood and sweat, body covered in wounds and a foul odor emanating from his sweat soaked attire, but there could be no mistaking a steady rise-and-fall of his chest as he stood. Wait. How on earth was he standing? Sakura felt that little seedling of hope wither and turn to ash as they dragged their chin off the ground and forced his palms to bring their chest upright so that they would stand straight and tall.

**"The...**

Something was wrong. Terribly, _terribly _wrong with his chakra. With his body. With everything. Arching his body at an impossible angle, he managed to stand. A strange and sickening spiral of spiteful chakra coiled out of his body, forming a never ending whirlpool of power. It was everywhere, leaking from his arms his legs, his stomach his thighs, his shoulders, everywhere. Not a single scrap was left untouched by this twisted mass of spiritual and physical energy, and energy that brought Sakura to her knees with awe.

**"Hell...**

Momentarily cowed by the baleful glare swiveled upon them, the Sound shinobi froze. He said nothing to them, his gaze sweeping across the clearing, falling upon Rock Lee. He blinked, recognition well within his eyes as he creaked them open and shut four times in a series of slow blinks. Sakura shrieked in surprise as he reappeared with the battered boy an instant later, carefully laying Lee down at her feet as the afterimage she'd been staring at, faded into nothingness. Chakra constantly swirled out of his stomach, creating a strange vortex in which he was the nexus. He stood well within the crimsstood directly within the crimson spiral, the blond schlepped to his feet, took all of two steps forward and suddenly, impossibly, he stood before her, leaving only a rustling of the breeze.

**"Did...**

Something was terribly, terribly wrong with Naruto. That was her last thought before her vision filled with red chakra and she was thrown back against the tree trunk. Sakura winced and forced bleary eyes to blink away painful tears, head aching as she struggled to look upward at her saviour. An orange jacket crumpled onto her face. Startled she pulled it into her arms, but her gaze never once left the almighty figure looming over her with all the wrath of ten thousand shinobi.

**"This...**

And she was behind Naruto, the kunai slamming into his chest and stomach as he whirled, throwing himself before her as the gale subsided. Zaku lowered his arm and scoffed, his arrogance twisting what should have been a handsome face, into a sick and pervaded grin. Naruto turned halfway, trembling and shuddering, ragged blond hair falling into his eyes. Shading them from view. Sheltering a flash of silver as the back of his jacket burst outward with a clinking and snapping sound of something impossibly brutal.

**...to you?" **All that was forgotten as Naruto spoke in a voice that was not his own. The voice was hollow, not-quite-mocking, but with a feral undercurrent that made the hairs on her neck rise up one after the other. Naruto's free hand rose, and red chakra coalesced around it, forming claws of fire that grew longer even as she watched, forming an impenetrable wedge between the two of them and the Otogakure shinobi who had been stunned into silence.

"Na-ru-to...

Naruto had nearly a dozen shuriken in his chest, and he was still standing. Naruto had dozens upon dozens of chakra chains emerging from his back, seamlessly connected to his skin without so much as drop of blood adorning those blue links that were wrapped within a sheathe of red flame chakra. Sakura stared in wordless disbelief as they slipped from their wounds. Slithering across their host to repair what damage had been done, plucking the kunai from their master and summarily snatching up each and every knife for themselves.

Naruto lowered his arms and slumped for a moment, removing the final knife that had the unfortunate happenstance of lodging itself in his collarbone. It came away with little effort, and he caught it in hand, seemingly satisfied with its make and build.

**"Sakura."**The strange not-Naruto voice began again, **"are you alright?"**

Sakura managed a fretful bob of her head.

**"Liar." **Naruto straightened abruptly, the chains moving as one with him and wrapping around his arms, thighs and chest. **"Someone hurt you." **Naruto glanced toward his shoulder, and placed a hand to the bone. **"I could hear you." **He did the same with the opposite shoulder, in a strange parody of drawing ones sword from its sheathe. **"I heard you fighting. I heard you crying." **Sakura watched with something akin to dread and disbelief as the flesh of his shoulders as Naruto grunted, reached _into _his skin, and pulled.

**"Yurusenai."**Naruto exhaled viciously. **"Zettai ni...yurusenai."**

Rippling like the waters at their feet, his fists came away closed around a hilt. One to a hand, hefting each katana deprecatingly, Naruto gave the two swords a swift flick of the wrist. Sakura watched him flick away the moisture from his weapons, cleaning them of the damp dew that still gleamed upon the tapered tips. This was a kenjutsu stance. Naruto's shoulders rippled harmlessly as he pulled two full length katana from his body, and actually looked to be better for it.

_'He pulled those katana straight out of his body...is that some kind of bloodline?'_

For the entire conversation, the redhead hadn't turned to face the crowd gawping at him. Now he did. Chakra flared to life as he turned. Crimson tendrils crawled up his face, swarmed over his arms, through his legs and even out his stomach. Wrapping his body in a sheet of crimson so thick it was nearly tangible. He allowed his eyes to retain their usual shape for a moment, so that he appeared to be an unnatural splotch of darkness in the rising morning light.

Then he put an end to that. He wanted the enemy to see him. There wasn't an eye that wasn't huge. It wasn't solely the chakra or Naruto's inherent majesty that stunned them. It was the eyes. They were wide open, those frozen pools of violet and rimmed black, surveying the entire congregation with ill-concealed conceit and disdain. These eyes were death to all who dare offend him, knowing the truth of what had been unleashed in Wave Country had come to their doorstep.

For the most part, Naruto, remained perfectly still. He was awesome in his power and terrible in his majesty. He noted the looks of fear and terror, not reveling, not loathing. They'd wanted to know the truth of what he was for some time now. Everyone had. Now they did. He didn't care if it earned their ire. That was not his intention. They knew what he was, they knew the horrors he was capable of, and it gained him nothing to kill these peons even if every fiber of his being demanded their deaths.

He'd prove them wrong, all of them**.**

Everyone flinched away as the shadows unfurled, revealing Naruto to the world. At first glance, one might not notice any change, but as the tainted energies wreathed the boy in crimson, it could not be denied. It was all too obvious. He had closed his eyes against the light. Why, one could only wonder, would anyone close their eyes when so many enemies were right in front of them? In lieu of a reply to that silent inquiry, Naruto abruptly chose to open them and greet the world with a terrifying gaze.

"Impossible." Dosu slid back half a pace. "H-He couldn't possibly be...

Sakura could scarce believe her eyes.

Sapphire blue had given way to a fierce crimson and slit-like pattern around the pupils, complete with red iris and white sclera. Twin orbs of murderous scarlet swiveled upon the congregation, holding both friend and foe in their power. Unnatural and terrifying in their magnificence, Sakura uttered a small whimper of disbelief beneath this sight. Immediately, he rounded on the sound. Sakura froze in a beat, her entire body tensing as his gaze locked upon her face, beheld the bruises there, moved upward to her ragged hair, ruined attire, and the blood still dribbling from her fist.

as his gaze locked upon her and took his eyes and saw her. Entrancing to the naked eye, she found herself staring helplessly ahead as those eyes lazily drifted across the bridge.

They found her gaze in an instant and a host of dark emotions roiled up inside him.

**"Sakura." **Naruto snarled darkly,** "Who did this to you?" **Red chakra leaked from the seal in his stomach, visible now as his chakra kicked up a foul breeze and revealed the lean body beneath. Having discarded the outlandishly bright jacket, he was still spattered with blood from the previous battle, black undershirt flailing madly in the breeze as he glared down at the object of his affections. Sakura found herself touching one hand to her lips as though this action into itself might explain Naruto's sudden transformation into this...this...this...

**"Sakura, say it!" **Naruto barked, but his anger did not lie with the Haruno. **"Who the hell hurt you!"**Plucked from her thoughts by his voice, Sakura struggled to find words but nowhere and nothing would come to her. She couldn't even bring herself to turn toward the Oto nin rising in the background. Naruto stood over her for all of an eternity, glaring at her and glaring through her as he sought some semblance of an answer.

"I did!"

Naruto snapped around, eyes locking upon Zaku with a terrifying numbness. Not as they had with Sakura, with concern, dread and an overwhelming protectiveness. Whatever had been Naruto within this boy died in that flare of hatred as he brought the Oto shinobi within his sights. His gaze slid down to Sakura, then across to Sasuke, who still lay behind them, his body now visibly steaming violet and blackened chakra that had a distinctly evil feel towards them.

**"You?" **Naruto repeated dumbly.**"You did this...to Sakura-chan...?"**

"Yup,** s**ure did." Zaku sneered back at this potent child and showed no fear, heedless of his companions edging away from him. "What, you wanna entertain me now?" He beckoned, noticing the slight twinge of anger in that visage. "Come on then, kid. Once I beat the shit out of you, I can go back to fucking the crap out of that useless little bitch over there for what she did to my arm!" Naruto didn't know if the man had been serious about that or in jest, and suddenly, he was unaccountably angry. Something snapped in that instant. Something shattered into a thousand pieces and blew away on the wind, taking his shriveled-up heart with it.

**"Sakura-chan isn't a bitch." **Naruto snarled. **"She's got more talent than you or anyone else in your whole godamned village!"**

"Bastard." Zaku's left eye twitched. "Now you're just insulting Orochimaru-sama. No way in hell am I going to let you live!" Dosu and Kin edged another pace back from their foolish comrade, well aware of what was being provoked. Naruto slipped a pace forward. Zaku crooked a hand and made that shooing/gesturing motion all teenagers loathe. Without the slightest precursor to his actions, Naruto crisscrossed his blades, uncrossed them, and in the two beats it took to gather his chakra and perform the motion, poured the crimson flow into the blades and left them all but burning.

**"You know, I have no idea what's happening to my body."**Naruto gazed at the furious crimson afterglow of his swords. "**But I'm loving it. I feel no pain from my wounds. In fact, I feel completely invincible. And, for some reason, I can pull weapons out of my body all of a sudden and turn my chakra into these chains**.**"**Too late, Zaku saw that murderous grin blooming behind those frazzled locks of blond and crimson and by then Naruto had already bellowed forward, his blade leaving a crimson trail of chakra in their wake as he bulleted forward in an explosion of speed and sound. **"But I do know, that you don't stand a chance in hell against me right now!"**

Blazing with Kyuubi chakra, he flung them in unison and battle was joined.

"Oh," Sakura whimpered as she fell to her knees, a bloodied hand grasping at the branches for support. _"Oh,"_she repeated, as though this would somehow wake her from this horrific nightmare; now a beautiful phantasm that played out before her like all of those romance novels she'd been reading. Whatever it was, dream or fantasy, the scene before her refused to relinquish her mind. She could feel her eyes growing impossibly hot, like they were going to boil out of their sockets and run down her face in place of the tears that already were. Sakura touched her clean hand to her lips, as if the small action could lessen the anguish that she was feeling in her chest.

That was answer enough for Naruto.

_"Douton!"_

Freed from holding either katana, Naruto's left hand flicked itself upright, and suddenly, a massive root heaved iself up from beneath the terrain. He took his other hand and placed it two inches short of his palm. Red chakra sheathed his arm, and swirled around seal he had formed, drinking it in as he uncrossed his hands from the Tiger seal and exhaled explosively. At first, neither of them moved, and Sakura had no way of telling what was about to happen. Then, before she realized it, Naruto's hand blurred upward, moving faster than Sakura could even see, his fingers jutting out and placing themselves against his forehead. Offering no explanation for the technique, Naruto disappeared and Zaku wheeled, just as _hands _clamped down upon his shoulder.

_'Two jutsu...at once? No wait, the first was a douton the second a teleportation and the third..._

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu.'

Naruto was _behind _him, and Naruto was _before _him.

"An arm for an arm." Naruto muttered. "And an eye for an eye."

The clones descended upon the Oto-shinobi in a swelling tide of fists and feet.

Zaku yowled as sharpened claws tore a bloody gash tore through his sternum, his hands flying down to cover the spurting wound. Naruto scoffed, revealing himself as he swept a heel outward, dislodging his hand from the pale flesh of the enemy who had so brutally tormented Sakura. His lips worked silently for a moment, speechless and dumbfounded as Naruto used the man's own velocity against him and slammed Zaku headfirst into the soil, planding one foot between his shoulder blades, dropping the katana; seizing either wrist from behind, all in the span of a single heartbeat. Naruto smirked and began to pull, a cold sneer twisting its way across his face as the gennin struggled against him.

"D-Don't!" Zaku sobbed as the red chakra roiled across his unprotected back, boiling the skin as its host continued to inexorably drag his arms outward. Sakura whimpered as the Shadow Clones went poof, leaving the original gripping Zaku malevolently. Those eyes. What were those eyes? She couldn't bear it. She couldn't bear to look at them. And yet she did. Sakura Haruno wanted nothing more than to look away, but she could not bring her body to obey this command.

**"What's this now?"**Naruto was surely grinning against the resistance he encountered. **"You seem to be proud of your arms, very...attached to them!" **Popping, ripping and tearing, Zaku glared back at him in horror as Naruto continued to relentlessly drag his arms backward. Heedless of the protestations bone and musculature gave. His eyes shot wide as the first lance of pain stabbed through his shoulder, soon followed by the next and the next and then ext , blotting out the moonlight as he gave one, final, visceral jerk of either arm.

_"GYAAAAAAH!"_

There was a _thump_, and Zaku came staggering back toward the edge of the clearing. Deep red arterial spray was jetting from the stump where his left arm had once been. His face had gone an even paler shade of grey, his mouth gawping open in amazement. Sakura stared as Zaku did a weird wandering pirouette back around and flung his arm in that direction, as if to tell her what was going on.

His lips had just enough time to part in a stunned declaration.

_"H-Help..m-me!..._

Then his voice stopped as Naruto's hand closed around his neck, Shifting, closing around his face. His protests muffled, Zaku could only shake his head and whimper as the first tingle of electricity came raching into his face, emanating from the demonic blond below him, impossibly hoisting him into the air despite the few inches in height that separated them. **"Raiton." **Naruto barked, sparks of red and white lancing up his arm with the incantation.

**_"Hiraishin!" _**

_"!"_

Sparks lanced up his arm and into Zaku's skull. Zaku writhed, but to say that he screamed would be to say that the ocean is wet. Zaku howled, his cries of pain and suffering scattering entire flocks for their trees and sending many a creature running from their burrows. And still, Naruto levered him up and continued to pump the raw voltage into his brain. Sakura stared out at her teammate, her relief fading to fear, basked as she was within the pallid afterglow of the continuous charge.

Finally, Naruto hurled him aside and into the soil, eliciting a violent seizure before finally ending his Zaku's stay in consciousness. With a small and gasping moan he descended into what would surely be a long and painful slumber. Naruto stared over him for an instant, before his boot snapped outward. Zaku flew, his body leaving the ground as it soared, and flying toward a stunned Dosu and Kin, both of whom hadn't been able to find their voices during the horrific catastrophe.

**"That leaves the two of you," **Naruto dusted his hands off, stopped, and retrieved his blades.** "I hope you'll give me a better time than your friend did."**The chakra chains sucked back into his spine and although this should have been heartening for the two Otogakure-nin, they felt no comfort as the boy strode in after them, twirling his blazing blades as if they were mere sticks of flame, weaving them round and around and around in an eerie display of flames and sizzling heat that tore at the surrounding atmosphere.

**"Surely you can do better!" **Naruto cocked his head when Kin's senbon reflected harmlessly off his whirring shield of steel. **"Don't dissapoint me now, Otogakure!"**

_'This isn't..._

Naruto started laughing, but his pace didn't hasten in the slightest. They slid back further as he began to carve deep, lasting furrows into the ground, advancing in a steady path that cautioned against any form of frontal attack. His eyes were intense, his lips curled into a sneer, and Sakura was absolutely terrified of him. Even as Naruto lazily loped toward the enemy, she could not bring herself to do anything more than lie there and wait, _and watch_, and become consumed with fear.

_"This isn't..._

It suddenly occurred to Sakura that she had seen this before. Rather, she had seen the intense spiral of crimson chakra boiling out of Naruto as it was now. But this time it felt different, three whisker marks that tripled his cheeks narrowing into deep furrows as the chakra billowed out behind the blond, forming what looked like a strange shroud complete with...was that a tail? She'd never, ever seen a Konoha shinobi so fierce; so unbelievably powerful that his very chakra forced the air to twist and distort the air around him; the little eddies of whirlpools blatantly visible even from the distance in which she'd been sitting.

**"MORE!"** Naruto bellowed. **"Show me more of that power!"**

"Stop." She whispered. Naruto paid no didn't care. She just didn't care anymore. With a keening cry of such woe that it would break the heart of any man, Sakura bolted from her place on her knees and printed across the clearing. Naruto seemed to deflate as she drew near, his shoulders sagging heavily and seeming to compress into himself with every step she took. Naruto had just sliced through Kind's flak jacekt, sweeping a deep and bloody furrow across her breasts, when Sakura realized her mistake.

Rounding on Dosu, not even pausing to accept any means of offerment, Naruto brought his bade down. Dosu's melody arm was all that saved him, cracking beneath the blade, but not shattering. No, it would be too easy if it just shattered. Sakura read the emotion in Naruto's eyes, one of glee, as he gleefully set to the task of breaking that arm, hammering it with an incessant percussion of his own, raining down blow after blow after blow, completely unaffected by the strange rythym he was making of with his even stranger instruments.

"Stop this...

She didn't know what to say as he stood before her, his eyes red and incredibly moist. Gone was that crooked grin she hated/loved so much. In its place hung the look of a broken boy, one that could not bring himself to speak the words his tearful visage was so desperately converying. He'd simply appeared she realized, as a small sound of surprise arose from deep within her chest. Shattered, the void that had been so deafeningly present only moments ago was torn asunder by a sound of a different sort.

"Stop...

Naruto planted a boot in Dosu's stomach, thrusting him away as though he weighed no more than a child.

"STOP IT!"

Sakura offered only a small sobbing gasp as she lurched forward. Naruto stumbled half a pace forward, eyes flying wide as everything soft and supple and womanly pressed itself into him and held tight. After what seemed like an eternity, he turned, regarding the obstruction over his shoulder, gazing into her boiling tears and finding some flicker of recognition there. He stared for what could've the embrace, pulling her head into his chest and looping an arm around her waist to keep Sakura there. It lasted for all of an instant. Then she was crying, hot and moist streaks of tears trailing down her cheeks and into his chest as she clung to him and begged at him to end his violent rampge.

"Please...Naruto, that's enough." Her fists began to tighten, straining, when he began to move forward. "No more. Please." Her fists incessantly drummed agains his bandages as she struggled to hold him, but Naruto would not be stopped and he continued toward Dosu with ill intent in his eyes. Still, Sakura clung to him, throwing her hands around his chest, tangling his legs, anything, in an effort to halt his desctructive desires, to extinguish his burning blades.

"Please...just stop...for me."

Naruto froze.

**"Why on earth should I stop?" **The guttural voice answered. **"I'm going to take my revenge on them for what they've done to you." **He glanced toward the quivering Dosu and smiled.** "Now its his turn, and I intend to make him suffer."** Sakura fervently shook her head and clung tight She felt a growl rumble through his chest and knew that he was losing patience. Empowered as he was by this chakra, Naruto could have cut her down in an instant, such was the fire bleeding from his katana.

He did no such thing.

"Not like this!" Sakura pressed her face into what remained of his black shirt. "Naruto! I'm begging you! Just...Just leave them alone!"

**"HOW THE HELL CAN I LEAVE THEM ALONE AFTER WHAT THEY DID TO YOU, HUH!" **Naruto rounded in her grip, glaring with those incredible eyes that were both violet and red and jade green all at once, and neither shade at all. This had to be a bloodline. It had to be. But this chakra...this chakra felt evil! Naruto was glaring down at her with disbelief, unable to understand why she'd want him to stop, to stop when these bastards deserved every bit of the beating that was coming to them.

"Stop it...please...I'm...I'm scared!"

Naruto turned to sone in her grip, such was his expression.

Within seconds she was wailing and poundng at him with her fists, the blows weak and ineffective. They stopped altogether as he gently looped an arm around hrt waist. Indulging in the rare moment of weakness, she flung her arms around his neck, refusing to care as he stiffened; pressed a cold hand against the small of her back. He'd probably done so out of concern, rather than reflex, but this meant nothing to Sakura as a shuddering shiver racing up and down her spine. She was cold, so very cold that she couldn't stand the thought of his sorrow for another single second. She inhaled deep and long and was surprised to still find the scent of ramen in his shirt despite the viscious battle he'd fought.

"You...You have to stop."

Naruto continued to glare down at her, but it was evident that her words had done something. With a wet slurping sound, the chakra left his body, leaving him maybe a few inches taller and his hair still scragled, but otherwise, aside from the aformentioned height, he hadn't changed much. Naruto gasped and he slumped forward. Sakura was there to catch him, to steady him and ease his rapid inhalation as the swords left his fingertips and he came back from the brink of wherever he'd been.

"What was I...

He stared at a trembling hand and shook himself, not seeming to mind that he was in her arms and she his.

"I can't believe I did that." Naruto repeated numbly. "I almost... He swallowed the gorge rising in his throat and shook his head. The red and violet tint was gone from his eyes, as was the jade. There was still no glimmer of sapphire to be seen amongst his white sclera. Then he crushed himself against her, trembling violently, small sobs wracking his frame. Sakura turned to ice for a moment, all she had known of the brash blond breaking and battering itself into oblivion in that instant.

_'Naruto..._

Sakura shivered, and gripped her charge tighter than before. The scent of damp skin did little to calm her fractured psyche, but she took what she could. Naruto's hand reached up to cup her cheek and that comfort turned to something else. Sakura froze, abrupty hesitant, painfully aware of the blood pounding in her ears and the sudden racing of her heart. She drew back, careful to keep head down turned and away from his bewitching gaze.

"Why do you always have to be so stupid." Sakura muttered, painfully aware of her cheeks heating and flushing with every word. "Baka. No good baka!" The blond took her insults without protest and Sakura tore her gaze upward out of sheer disbelief. That tore it. In an impossible burst of speed, she'd reached up, cupped Naruto by the face, free hand resting against back of his head and dragging him down as she buried her head in his chest and started to sob.

Once more did the long locks of hair tickle Sakura's nose, but to her dismay, these were not the bright blond to which she had become accustomed. Frowning, she twisted against Naruto, struggling to receive a better view of what was impossibly long and unbelievable raven _black _hair. She gawped up at him. There wasn't a single scrap of blond left. His hair was dark, just a shade moreso thean that of Sasuke-kun's. If she had to give a color, Sakura would've described these raven tresses as more of a midnight black, dangling just past his shoulders, cascading down his back. Funny how a sudden change in hairstyle could make someone look so..._dark._

Naruto seemed to realize something then. Sakura watched those onyx eyes, those strange eyes that had yet to fade into sapphire, flicker to her face. They widened, those inverted pupils shooting too large, much too large than they should have been. He made a sound of disbelief, just now noticing her hair. Coming to the conclusion that Sakura had violently hacked it off, else his hair would've been the exact length of her own.

_'Kami, what the hell happened while I was asleep?'_

He saw the pain flashing in her eyes, knew that words would only make things worse. And so, for the first time in his life, Uzumaki Naruto kept his mouth shut. He forced himself to pull away, knowing a moment like this would never, ever happen again. It took all he had to keep the pain out of his face but Naruto thought he did a good job of it. Thought, but then again, Naruto really wasn't all that good when it came to masking his emotions.

"I look awful." He flinched aside as Sakura ventured the question. "Huh?" Sakura grimaced, touching a hand to her face, realizing what her teammate must be thinking. Sakura _saw _all the confusion and all the questions roiling behind those wraith-like eyes, and she could see how it pained him not to speak. Sasuke's dark raven blue tresses, Naruto's new hairystyle cascaded down his back, in a curtain of the same length as her own, well the same length as hers. Rather, it had been, before she'd been forced to hack half of it off during the battle. enough to fall at his knees, just a few inches from skimming at even longer still, cascading down his bare back, and halting only just above his knees.

Silence reigned surpreme as Naruto shoved his face into the crook of Sakura's neck and placed his head against hers. Sakura felt a wet dampness across her skin as he held her tight. Not for harm, but as though he would fade into the winds should he release her.

"I'm so sorry." He muttered, and it was with a cold flash of clarity that Mirajane understood why he was trembling.

Naruto was crying and she hadn't the time to comfort him as something round was lain at their feet.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

They turned as Dosu laid showed them an earth scroll.

He laid it down at his feet.

"In exchange for this, allow us to leave."

"Eh?"

Naruto tensed against Sakura , eyes shooting wide with many an emotion that she couldn't read. Thankfully, Sakura had enough foresight to maintain a mask of silence. Naruto wasn't quite fortunate, enough to think of that, violently taking two steps back -if anoyne could make such an act look violent it was him- his visage twisted in a grimace of annoyance and disbelief.

"You're just giving us your scroll." He deadpanned. "After I...After I...

His gaze flickered to the butchered bodies of Kin and Zaku, and he left the question unspoken.

"You know what I mean."

Dosu seemed to appreciate that.

"It is apparent we cannot defeat you, and our mission is a failure." He let his gaze fall upon the still sleeping Sasuke. "Your friend...when..._if _he ever wakes...I apologize." Without another word Dosu began to slump away, draggind his wounded comrades over his shoulders. "Whe next we meet, we shall not run and hide, from either of you. Use that with your Scroll of Heaven, and we shall see you at the tower, luck permitting."

"Y-Yeah." Naruto managed a stiff nod. "Sure thing...

"I wish you luck then, Blade User."

"Geh?" Naruto made a face, to which Dosu frowned, though his bandages hid the expression.

_'It would seem he's unaware of his talent, then.'_

Sakura was about to comment that they didn't have a heaven scroll when Naruto nodded. Either that was his best pouty face or he really didn't know that Orochimaru had burned their scroll once he'd been knocked flat into a tree. Interrogating Dosue proved futile as well, with the Oto-nin conveying only that they had been told to attack Sasuke. Likewise, Sakura feigned a relieved expression all her own as Dosu began to trudge away, though it could not be said that her emotion or relief was falseified. "Yokatta." She snifled, pulling her arms around tightly around Naruto's neck. "You were... but now you're not...Oooooh, I am so pissed at you dumbass, but at the same time, I'm... so happy."

The instant Dosu was out of sight and earshot, Sakura promptly glared at Naruto.

"Alright, spill it, Naruto!" she finally managed, "What did you do?"

Naruto grinned, reached into his pack and revealed the heaven scroll. Their heaven scroll. The one Orochimaru had burned. The one he still had in his hand. Sakura glanced up, down, down, up, and in every which way betwen up and down, as she struggled to come to terms with it. How on earth had Naruto gotten his hands on a Heaven scroll? Wait a second. Could this possibly be the same scroll, meaning that Naruto had someone slipped Orochimaru a fake?

_'But that would mean..._

Emerald green flew wide open at the realization.

"You didn't!"

"Sure did!" Naruto laughed, returning to his original persona, those terrible eyes _finally _reclaiming their sapphire coloration. "Ninja must always see underneath the underneath, Sakura-chan!" Alas, he was not at all prepared for the sudden glomm attack this earned him from his bedraggled teammate. Granted it was rather brilliant of him, considering that he'd unkowingly pulled-one-over of the most deadly shinobi in existence, but that wasn't exactly on his mind as Sakura quashed up against him.

_"Omigoshnarutoifreakingloveyou!" _

Was all he could make out as Sakura grabbed him in a flying tackle.

"Nani?" Naruto squinted upwards at his teammate, perplexed by this sudden squeeze. "Erm...uh, you're...welcome?"

Sakura seemed to realize her predicament, and released him with a blush.

_'Eh?' _

A blush?

"D-Don't mention it!"

Naruto rubbed at his eyes.

"Sure thing...Sakura-chan?"


	2. Blazing

**A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! I WORKED MY ASS OFF ON THIS CHAPTER! ASSKICKING! DRAMA! ACTION! FLUFF! EPICNESS! YOU WILL FIND IT HERE!_I'm so glad all of you are enjoying the effort I'm putting into this story! __Alright, since this is the fourth chapter, so lets get down to business shall we? First, sorry for the typo in the last chappy. I had meant to say that. Naruto was GONE for three weeks, meaning he arrived the day that Sarutobi was to have the meeting. Hence the three weeks bit, detailing how long he'd been GONE with the clones entering the village only shortly before the original arrived. Also this story WILL be a bit different from the canon/manga/anime in certain aspects as expected, and I promised you'll love what I have in store for Naruto and the gang. If any of you think Naruto or anyone is being just a little OOC in this chapter(or any others) remember, Naruto has the Rinnegan, Sasuke got the Mangekyo, and Naruto just promised to help Sasuke KILL HIS BROTHER. Now Hinata is on their team. Yeah, I just put three of THE most powerful doujtutsu in EXISTENCE on a team._**

**_People WILL die in this fic, both good and bad. I promise you'll be surprised._**

_**kicking after all the wonderfully rave reviews you've given me**__**. Again, I'm just so glad all of you are enjoying reading this as I am writing all of it b**__**ut enough of all this blah-blah-BLAH! **_

_**Let's get started, Dattebayo!  
**_

**_(The Blazing Heat)_**

Naruto was a blur.

Everywhere he moved there was fire, wherever he stepped, there was lightning. Naruto flashed left and right and men died. His twin katana streamed fire, fueled by that strange red chakra, powered by him, and him alone. With a flick of the wrist, he ended lives, and spared others. There was no quarter to be had. Naruto had taken point, careful to keep Sakura and Sasuke just-behind him and the red tide of destruction he wreaked as they made their way towards the tower.

_'Not sure if I can keep this up much longer..._

Naruto didn't bother to control the katana. He let the chakra flow through him, his blades acting as the conduit for the red chakra. He let it guide his movements and tell him which way he'd swing when the occasional trap sprung, how to evade if they happened upon the occasional enemy. Thankfully there hadn't been any sign of that Grass freak but Naruto didn't want to take anymore risks than they already had.

Hence the reason they were making a run for the tower.

Unfortunately, with Sasuke having only just woke up, and Sakura in no condition to fight, that also assigned to Uzumaki Naruto, the duty of combat. And there was combat. They'd been walking for two days straight, and though he had the feeling they were getting closer, Team Seven wasn't quite there just yet. Meaning there was still the off chance of encountering those sand shinobi or some other team lying in wait, ready to pounce at the slightest opportunity.

Naruto risked a glance back at Sakura and had to slow his pace when Sasuke began to lag behind. Whatever that freak had done to him, it wasn't anything good. He was barely blinking when Sakura talked to him, and even Naruto's jibes and other taunts meant to incense the Uchiha, were proving to be ineffective. And that _nasty _mark kept pulsing on his neck; because all the while Sasuke didn't stop mumbling the word "power" over and over again.

Naruto wanted out of this damn forest.

And so he took hold of his blades once again, and felt them scorch his blond hair black; melt his sapphire into that strange color he couldn't quite see. Sakura had called it a weird cross between green and blue and violet and Naruto didn't know what to make of it. He knew only that it was the dead of night, the moon was full, and they were terribly, terribly exposed. Naruto _yearned _for an opportunity to rest his head, but the last time he'd given in to Sakura's needling that he needed to conserve strength...

_'Now...isn't the time for that.'_

The blond shuddered at awakening to a bloodcurdling scream and being forced to summarily murder the three Mist Shinobi who thought they could make easy prey of them. Kyuubi hadn't been pleased by that, he hadn't been pleased at all. Naruto felt his prisoner stirring within the confines of the seal and he stole a glance toward his stomach. Sure enough, the Yondaime's seal was visible, even now as Naruto felt more of the fox's chakra trickle out of him and into the blades.

**"Keep moving, kit."**

_'No shit.'_ Naruto deadpanned and felt a tricke of vindictivity from his monster. _'Eh? No! I don't need you taking control of my body again, thank you very much!'_ Kyuubi muttered something about how he'd hadn't minded before and Naruto was quick to retaliate that he didn't have much of a choice before. It was hard enough accepting the existence of a demon in his stomach, _let alone _the ridicuously rude awakening said kitsune had given him, but overall, Naruto was coping.

He'd always been coping, from the moment he'd been born.

Accepting stuff like this came with a wave of "WTF" for the first few hours, but Naruto didn't have time to sulk. He was going to be hokage, after all. That meant they had to pass this exam, by any and all means necessary. Naruto had to become a Chunin. No matter what. If Sakura-chan and Sasuke-teme happened to make the grade...that was icing on the cake. Naruto had to wipe away that small and goofy grin of his when he spied another Amegakure genin skulking about.

Another blade in the back and another dead. Funny how it worked that way. Naruto had absolutely no idea how he'd pulled these weapons from his body, but he recalled it with an errant thought and it came screaming back into his palm without resistance. He winced as the chains boiled out of his back, five in number this time as opposed to the nine from before, and slapped away a hail of shuriken and makabishi spikes that obstructed their path.

Sakura's soft gasp tore at his heartstrings, even though she thought he hadn't heard it. Naruto couldn't put that fake smile on, not this time. Sakura's recounting of the grisly events in the clearing had been incredibly detailed, and to Naruto, it was a retelling of the very nightmare he'd lived through. He'd just been so...so angry. He couldn't claim that the fox had controlled him, had _made _him do those terrible things he'd done, because that, would be a lie.

Naruto's face twisted into a rictus of fury all over again. He didn't have a choice with its chakra considering that it automatically powered the blades. Naruto hadn't the foggiest as to how he could pull more from his body, but that bastard of a bugger Sasuke wasn't happy about it. Sakura...Naruto couldn't get a bead on her reaction. Naruto couldn't wipe the fear away from her expression he'd seen. Sakura might be afraid of him. Naruto hated that. He hated that his own teammates might think him to be no better than the monstrosity the Yondaime had sealed inside this stomach.

_'Too bad the Fourth's dead. I'd have A LOT of questions for that guy..._

Naruto remained less than thrilled now that he knew the real reason everyone had been so cold to him. Save for Iruka-sensei, old man hokage, and Kakashi-sensei, of course. Oh, and then there was Tazuna-san, Inari, and Tsunami. Oops! He'd almost forgotten Sakura, oh, oh, and then there was Sasuke, the Konohamaru Corps. and- Naruto couldn't count them on his fingers as he recanted the list of those who hadn't shown him any animosity, even in the most recent days. _Strange._ The list used to be _much _shorter than the legthy list he'd obtained during his brief time as a genin. Such a thought had no place on the battlefield however, and it was with great reluctance that Naruto filed this revelation away for further inspection.

_Aha!_

One of the chains responed to his sudden flash of alarm and suddenly the limp corpses of other two Ame-nin were impaled on the chains. Naruto felt his gorge rise again, but before he could vommit as he'd done the first time, his chains contemptously cast the corpses aside and left them to die in the undergrowth. Naruto felt yet another inquiry joing the congolmerate that was his brain, forcing it too to work just as hard as his body while its owner pondered over how the tendrils of blade and metal responded so selectively to his willpower and not that of the fox. Well, Naruto would be _damned _the day he let some craxy kitsune keep him from his dream just because it felt like snatching his body at the moment.

_'You know what...I'm giving myself a headache! ARGH!'_

Abruptly Naruto grew tired of thinking.

_'Let's just get to that damned tower already!'_

He flung himself into the fray and then there was only blood and blade and corpse. He did not rest. He was _never _at rest, constantly moving, blurring, shifting and sliding, his feet carried him across the deadened leaves and traps and corpses that littered their path. He moved just so that the blood boiling from his katana's never landing on him, or the two teammates he was so hellbent on defending, regardless of what a certain pinkette's feelings for him might be. Sakura trailed a foot or so behind him, pulling a weakened-yet-conscious Uchiha Sasuke by a wrist. Careful to maintain a perimeter with the three, a large caravan of Naruto's clones surrounded Team Seven on either side, blades also drawn and scanning the clearing for any signs of trouble.

Garbed in a stray cloak he'd picked up to replace his ruined jacket, Naruto looked like some long forgotten general, marshalling the last of his troops. Only his troops numbered somewhere in the upper hundreds of thousands and each of them were a dead ringer for the original, blazing blades of badassness included. If Naruto had fired a flare gun into the the Forest, its light would have _paled _against the conflaguration that illuminated the treetops.

Even the beasts knew to keep their distance.

Naturally, a boy with two flaming swords and a small army of clones marching through the Forest of Deat in the Dead of Night wasn't exactly stealthy. But Naruto wasn't marching; and neither were any of his clones as they ushered Sakura and Sasuke onward behind the original. Someone was bound to find them, bound to make a grab for the scrolls they had collected. Naruto knew this better than a genin should, and he was careful to keep a constant watch for danger.

So when one of his clones inexplicably went "poof" the entire group went on high alert.

Naruto didn't want to delay their progress anymore than he already had, but he stopped. Sakura bumped right into him and nearly found a blade in her stomac before Naruto realized it was a nakama that had disturbed his stance. Thankfully, her apology sounded sincere enough to ellicit a concerned glance from Naruto. Immediately, he wished he hadn't looked. But he had done just that, and there was no denying it. Sakura was favoring her right leg heavily, her left still wounded from Zaku's kunai. She'd obviously bandaged it, but Naruto was horrified to notice that the wrappings, once a pristine white, were now a dripping red, leaking thin rivulets of crimson down her leg.

"Sakura-chan...that looks bad."

No, she didnt look bad at all.

"O-Oh this?" Sakura shied aside as the small army guarding them came to a grinding halt. "I-It's nothing! J-Just a flesh wound." Her face was pale, gray almost. Naruto glanced to her face, knowing at once what would happen, but for some reason he didn't hesitate. Sakura squeaked, yes squeaked as he placed a hand to her forehead. Naruto recoiled, but there was no _thwack _across the head nor any other blow that would have made him do so, save for one thing.

"You have a fever!" Naruto leveled an accusing stare at the pinkette. "Don't you!"

She looked god awful.

"You _do _have a fever!" Naruto insisted, stopping himself from thrusting a finger and laughing as he proved himself right. This was neither the time nor the place for it. Naruto decided instead to keep his mouth shut again, and then it came to him. There _was _a way to get to the tower before sunrise. He scrutinized Sakura intensely, wondering how he'd deal with that injury beforehand. Spared Sasuke a brief and cursory glance, noting the Uchiha seemed capable of standing on his own now, albeit not quite without wobbling.

"Sakura-chan." Naruto tried to keep his tone calm and soft like Kakashi-sensei, because he knew, he just knew that this would tick her off. "I need you to stay very, _very _still." Sakura looked as though she might protest, but she averted her eyes and, clenching her entire body, allowed Naruto to bend to a knee, place a hand to her wound. He felt the blood and cringed at the noxious odor. Infected, just as he'd thought, the kunai had knicked an artery.

**"No."**

It was a testament to her skill that she hadn't bled out already.

**"You are not using my chakra for that." **Naruto felt the Kyuubi's displeasure at the idea, though it admired his ingenuity. **"You've no idea what that will do to her body."** Naruto wasn't listening, he'd all but _seen _what would happen if he let her wound linger any longer than it already had. He felt Sasuke level a furious glare at his back, apparently the Uchiha stirred enough to recognize what looked a great deal like intimacy, but this was not the case.

"Sakura-chan...what would you say if I could...well, if I told you I can heal you."

She blinked.

"Naruto, you know medical ninjusu?"

"Hardly." Naruto jerked his head down, bitter in his words and thoughts. "If one of us had a first aid kit I would resort to this." Sakura registered the plink-plink-plink of tears upon the soil, with Sasuke and the clones looking on in silent confusion. What on earth was Naruto talking about? If he didn't know medical ninjutsu, and if they'd lost their first-aid kit, then how on earth did he plan to treat that wound before it started to fester-

_'Oh.'_

A trace of knwoing filtered into her features.

"I'm going to heal you." Naruto repeated, his voice hoarse, as though he'd been wrestling with a terrible decision. "But...Sakura-chan... its going to _hurt."_ His hand fisted into the dirt and he seemed to be that ost little boy for just a moment. Then Naruto opened his eyes and his visage was blank, blank as slate, but for those eyes as they flickered to her wound, to his katana, and back again. Sakura must've had some inkling as to what Naruto was planning, because Sasuke watched the Haruno inhale sharply, jade irises flying wide with disbelief.

_'But that would mean..._

Naruto was eager to reconsider.

"L-Look, if you think you can make it to the tower then-

"I am used to pain." Sakura whispered, and Naruto couldn't help but notice the way she slid her gaze toward Sasuke.

_"What?"_

After looking at her like she'd grown a second head, Naruto seemed to ignore the fuming Uchiha, at least enough to find his voice again. Even then, it came out as little more than an indistinct mumble, one that Sakura had to strain her fading senses to discern. He'd stopped crying, but he was clawing at the dirt. She could see the fingernails of his hand extending even as she watched them curl and and grasp at the barren soil, possibly hoping to find a solution there with his head down, in the dirt.

"Not this pain." Naruto raised his gaze and shook his head, reluctant and hesitant to even _suggest _such a procedure. "This...This could kill you." Strangely enough, his words left Haruno Sakura furious. Who was _he _to decide how she lived or died? She'd finally begun to become a better shinobi, to make herself useful to Team Seven, and he didn't have the strength to do this, to save her life? Irate, at once, her hand lashed out toward the palm linger on her wound.

"Or-

Naruto flinched.

"Or I could bleed to death." Sakura slapped Naruto's hand away violently, and, in a rare lapse of character, tore the bandages away. Naruto yowled as though she'd torn out a piece of his heart and it took all Sakura had not to slap _herself. _Yes, Sakura nearly slapped herself for the broken look in his eyes. Each of his clones shared in this keening sound of woe, each wearing a similair, downcast and downtrodden expression as the crimson geyser burst from the swollen and puss-covered wound that was Sakura's leg.

"Either way, I'm done dying the death of a coward!"

Naruto moaned.

"What have you done?" Naruto seemed years older as he gawped at the color fleeing from her face, her legs wobbling, her body brought to brink of collapse by this sudden exertion of energy. Sakura, for the most part, managed a shaky smile before she realized how foolish she'd been; because she crumpled to the ground an instant afterward. Naruto made a sound caught somehwere between the growl he'd made prior, and a moman, and then she was folding into his arms like a helpless doll. Damnation. Naruto lost his sapphire eyes as they flashed crimson and Sakura knew that she'd hurt him again, even after swearing by her nindo she'd make herself a better person.

"Sorry."

Naruto choked aloud and shoved Sasuke back when he tried to approach, but Sakura didn't seem to care. She must have lost more blood than she thought because everything was white and when it occured to her that she should keep her eyes open she realized that they were open; and that it didn't matter at all. She'd left Naruto with a horrible choice, let her die or risk killing her himself. Sakura didn't have it in her to chastise herself, she was just too tired, so tired so-

_**"NO!"**_

Sakura lurched as something searing and incredibly painful jolted into her chest.

_**"No."**_ Naruto had that voice again and Sakura shivered as a trickle of red chakra flowed from him, collecting inside the hollow portion of his blade, and jolting into her wound. Her entire leg had become almost completely numbed, just from that trickling of chakra. But the pain was quick to return. Sakura bit her lip to sustain silence. She _knew _it wasn't over, and she was right. Naruto jolted nearly half of his chakra forward, slamming his hand and all the energy he'd amassed into the wound, to devastating effect.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Sakura-chan."

_"Nani?"_ Sakura was aware of a trembling but it wasn't coming from him. She could still feel the effects of the poison -damnation it had been poisoned after all- and looked at Naruto as though he'd just grown a second head. He knew. Naruto knew that the kunai had been poisoned and now she was going to die for nothing. But his chakra was still flowing. Still trickling into Sakura filling her every pore and saturating her cells within a wonderful nexus of energy.

Then came the pain. Sakura saw a huge fox head composed of chakra, and it roared as it descended on the unresisting kunoichi. Sakura screamed and collapsed to the ground in Naruto's arms, racked by convulsions. She had no idea how long that pain lasted, only that it did and it hurt with such intensity that she wanted it all to end. After a period of time that _felt _like days, her body sagged in relief and her eyes opened, winced at the harshness of the light, and closed again.

All the clones were gone, and it was daylight.

Morning actually, the morning of the third day of the exam. Sakura tried to lift her head, but an explosion flared behind her skull, hurtling her head down against something firm, but warm. Sakura gave a small sound of conusion, shifted, and realized that there were arms around her. Her ears finally cleared from that incessant lack of sound, enough so that she was able to detect the rhythymic thud-thud-thud of a hearbeat, and not just any heartbeat.

"You're awake." Disbelief filtered through the abrupt void of sound, but Sakura wasn't willing to move her head this time. Her body was sore in all the wrong and right places, and some place she didn't even know she'd had. Her grip tightened upon the shoulders of whomever was carrying her, and a pained hiss joined the sounds of the forest and the rustling of leaves. Sakura yelped and threw both arms around his neck as they burst through the last of the underbrush and skidded to a halt in a clearing.

The tower lay dead ahead, less than a foot away.

"Huh." Sasuke's voice echoed from somwhere to the right. "Looks like we made it with an hour to spare."

"We did?" Sakura pulled upon the surface she was resting on, looking for a better view of the sun. Unfortunately this ended up quashing her somewhat not-ample chest against the head of a certain blond, and said blond did not take kindly to having someone's breasts shoved into his face while claws were pushing into the back of his neck. Her rescuer shuddered and twisted under her, practically bucking Sakura from his back out of instinct.

"Sakura-chan...you're hurting me."

"Who in the...Naruto!"

"Ow!" Naruto whined, and Sakura abruptly remembered she'd been clawing him. Wait. Clawing? She jerked her gaze down to her hands, startled to see that her nails had grown to the ridicously and manicured points that most men feared. Thos nails were digging into the bare back of one Uzumaki Naruto, and the sudden realization that it was Naruto who'd been carrying her, Naruto who had one hand placed upon her thight for support and another just a little higher than that, unintentionally or intentionally cupping an indefatigable portion of her rear.

"Na-ru-to!"

The Uzumaki yelped, expecting a blow to the head, one that never came. Sakura lingered for a moment longer before squirming off him, flushing furiously. It was then that she realized something, had she not noticed that before? Naruto was taller than her. The blond squinted down at Sakura, obviously awaiting whatever physical detriment she was to be doling out. Sasuke had already left the two of them behind, having opted to head for the tower, and Sakura noted -not without a small pang of sorrow- that he didn't even inquire as to her condition.

Naruto, however, was gawping at Sakura with a look of open disbelief.

"It worked." He breathed. "I can't believe that actually worked."

"Baka, what worked?" Sakura blinked, touching a hand to her throat. Odd, since when was her voice this...different? Naruto handed her a small mirror, the one she'd left in her pack, and Sakura was all too quick to hold it up before her face. She nearly dropped it, such was her shock. Her face was relatively hers, despite Naruto's chakra infusion. She hadn't any whisker marks either, that would've been a nightmare to deal with. Sakura was, however, not herself. There was an overall...lack of baby fat in her face, and although her body remained very much the same as it'd always been, neither was this the face she'd seen in the mirror prior to the exams.

"Kami...

Sakura was, essentially, staring at a very beautiful kunoichi with short pink hair, that was not at all rough and splayed over as she'd remembered. Her skin had lost that pasty pale pallor that looked as though she'd spent more time admiring herself in the mirror, than training outdoors. It was a creamy color, trapped somewhere between alabaster and peach colored. Likewise, her body had received a slight toning of the muscles and a growth spurt; perhaps an inch or so, enough to strain her clothing toward discomfort.

She placed the mirror within her pack, unable to bear looking at this beautiful girl for a moment longer. Naruto couldn't meet her gaze. Sakura put an end to that with a not-so-gentle kick to the shin, it had more impact than she'd thought as Naruto jerked backward, rubbing at a somewhat sore kneecap. Sakura blinked. Naruto met her gaze for all of an instant and looked away. The changes weren't significant, they were subtle, but sometimes subtle ehanced upon what was already there.

Sometimes subtle was good.

"D-Don't look at me like that." He jammed both hands in his pockets and sulked.

"What," Sakura winced as her new voice spoke, "What did you do?"

Naruto blushed.

"Something I shouldn't have." He looked guilty, terribly guilty, and she couldn't fathom why. "I healed you, but I...well...oh forget it!"

He gestured at her mutely.

"That happened on its own! Don't clobber me!"

Sakura batted an eyelash and Naruto twisted aside. Blinked as his fellow shinobi kept her head in a downturned position and stalked toward him. Naruto tensed ever muscle in his body and waited for some sentiment of pain or screaming to come. Sakura threw her arms around Naruto's neck. Naruto stumbled back and went without a fight, though he did cry out in surprise against this sudden and unexplained trajectory as his back thumped up against the tree from which they'd only just descended.

Sakura loomed over him, and said nothing.

"You gave me your chakra." She repeated slowly, in the way she usually did before she bopped someone. "Didn't you?" Naruto bobbed his head but once, scrunching his eyes shut as she held him by a wrist each, scrutinizing him intensely. Naruto felt something soft pressing against the side of his cheek. Sapphire eyes flew wide open in disbelief, unable to understand or believe or deny the sight that presented itself to him as Haruno Sakura released her deathgrip on the boy's hands.

"Eh...Sakura-chan?" Naruto brought a hand to his own cheek, and returned his attention to Sakura. "What was...

"That, was for saving my life." She mumbled softly. "I...I owe you that much." She blushed and took him by the hand. Again, Naruto offered no resistance as the kunoichi summarily dragged him toward where Sasuke was waiting for them both. He was still very much in a daze, content to listen as she rambled onward. He was still trying to overcome the fact that he'd been kissed. By a girl. His girl. The phrasing wasn't exactly appropriate, but Naruto liked the way it sounded.

"So...um...about that kiss...

Sakura silenced him with a baleful glare.

"W-What about it?"

Naruto hadn't an answer.

"Were you...guilty?"

"Guilty! I-" Sakura cut herself off as they entered the doors and almost immediately drew Naruto aside. "What is wrong with you!" Abashed, Naruto shied away as Sakura glared/pleaded with him for a clue to his train of thought. "Wasn't that what you wanted?" Naruto's face crumpled. He looked as though his soul had been stripped naked, and all the kunai in the world had sunk into his open heart.

_"What I wanted?"_

Too late, Sakura realized her mistake.

"All I ever wanted, was for you to live." Naruto snapped. "All I ever wanted, during those two days you were in a coma, _a godamn coma_, was for you to live!" Naruto glared at Sasuke's back, fuming all the while as his gaze bored into the Uchiha's receding form. "But I guess it'll always be about Sasuke, won't it?" All kindness had gone from his visage, and suddenly Sakura hadn't the strength to hold Naruto any longer. She seemed to wilt, hopelessly confused by what the blond had said and slumped against him. "If you feel like you owe it to me, then don't bother." Naruto slapped her hands aside in an instant, refusing to accept that Sasuke had screwed him over once again.

"But I-!"

"Not if you did for a stupid reason like that." He shouldered past. "Forget I said anything."

Sakura squirmed off him and suddenly Naruto wasn't moving.

"No!"

She had him by the arm, a fierce and firey look in her eyes, one that was as weak as it was strong, as broken as it was sorrowed. She didn't seem to mind that they were only just outside the main entrance to the tower, that the shadows served no purpose should someone enter. Naruto, utterly lost and confused, glared back and tugged at his arm. Sakura shook her head once, and abruptly tears had splashed through the air.

"I do owe you, Naruto. But I don't want to ruin that."

"Eh?" Naruto felt a trickle of confusion worming into his face. "Ruin what?"

"There's...something I've been meaning to say."

Still holding his arm, Sakura took a small, tentative step forward. And another. And another still, and suddenly she was pulling Naruto's arm down, easing him away from the aggressive stance he had taken so suddenly. Naruto didn't relinquish his anger. Sakura didn't seem to mind that, either. He turned to stone as she reached for his face, such was his expression and the disbelief etched into the solid features of his face.

"Just listen. Listen to this stupid weakling and what she has to say." Naruto was about to be an ass and remark that Sakura _wasn't _weak now thanks to the chakra infusion he'd given her, but it would have been a mouthful, so he kept silent. Sakura scooted forward, thrusting herself upon him, into his frozen arms, but it was not the enthusiastic and gleeful embrace of before. It had a certain..lacking of naivetie to it, this way in which the Haruno pushed her head ito his chest.

Naruto liked this feeling way too much.

"Ever since that day, you've made me think."

"About?" Naruto muttered sullenly.

"About a lot of things." Sakura looked him square in the eye, a tremble in her lower lip. "I've been stupid. So _godamned stupid_ about so much that I don't even know where to begin!" Naruto flinched to the side and aside, wincing as Sakura's voice rose in pitch as she continued, "Maybe I am a weakling! Maybe I am useless for chasing someone who looks at me but never _looks at me!"_ Sakura gave a brief and wild gesticulating motion, indicating herself.

"This, for example!" She tore a glance down the hall where Sasuke had gone, where he was waiting. "Not a word! Ever since Orochimaru put that mark on him, Sasuke-kun...he...he..." Naruto stiffened as Sakura fisted her handa gainst his chest. "You saved my life and Sasuke...Sasuke...he stood by and did nothing! NOTHING!" With a final and heart-wrenching sob, Sakura placed her head upon his chest and wept, cursing sulphurously.

"So I thought I'd try and make a change." Naruto couldn't ignore the sincernesss of her tone. "Move on to someone who mabye, even just a little bit, someone who acknowledges me." Naruto brought the full weight of his gaze to bear upon the floor, as though he'd heard this all before, and said nothing. "So yes, I kissed you." A small hiccup racked Sakura's shoulders. "Yes, I kissed you, damnit! It took everything I had and I'd do it again in a hearbeat but now you've gone and screwed it all up, BAKA!"

Naruto stared down at her, wounded.

"I suppose I deserve this, after all I've put you through." Sakura mumbled. "I've been a total...

"You say bitch and I'll slap you myself." Naruto's sudden vehemence dragged Sakura from her melancholiness. "Do you hear me?" Sakura blinked with wide eyes as Naruto seized her by the shoulders, a glimmer of red chakra filtering into his gaze. "Maybe I'm pissed, maybe I'm super pissed, but you're never that, Sakura. Do you understand?" Naruto shook her gently, not roughly. "Do you have any idea how... how...you're...very...

Naruto cursed and abruptly released Sakura's shoulders, conscious of the trembling in his arms.

"Damnit I can't say it."

Sakura flushed furiously.

"I don't think this is the best time for this, either."

Naruto looked as though he were seriously considering sealing the door shut.

"Can we just try this again?" He pleaded. "I'm so turned around that I can't even think straight."

"Baka."

"Hey! I said I was sorry! Isn't that good enoug?"

"No, no it isn't you moron!"

Sakura was either a very good actor or a terribly sore loser because _that _sent her straight into a pout. She folded her arms and turned away from Naruto, the sound of soft snifling still trailing onward, echoing in the darkness. She didn't even notice until he gently, _oh-so-very-gently_ wrapped two arms around her, a loose, awkward embrace from behind. Sakura refused to yield for all of five seconds, and by then she had alread trailed a hand up toward his face, something Naruto hadn't been expecting.

"Oi-Oi, Sakura-chan...

"Hmm?"

"There's...probably a side effect of Kyuubi's chakra I should...mention...

"And that is?" She was already pulling his face downward. "I'm sure it can

"It messes with your head." Naruto warned. "You know, emotions, mood swings, all that; I only gave you some, but still-

"Naruto." Sakura spoke sharply. "I have something to say, as well."

"Eh?"

_"Urusei."_

And then they met with enough force to rattle their teeth.

**REVIEW OR KYUUBI WILL DEVOUR YOU! XD**


	3. Searing

**A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! I WORKED MY ASS OFF ON THIS CHAPTER! ASSKICKING! DRAMA! ACTION! FLUFF! EPICNESS! YOU WILL FIND IT HERE!_I'm so glad all of you are enjoying the effort I'm putting into this story! __Alright, get ready for a new ass _**_**kicking after all the wonderfully rave reviews you've given me**__**. Again, I'm just so glad all of you are enjoying reading this as I am writing all of it b**__**ut enough of all this blah-blah-BLAH! We pick up now right at the beginning of da PRELIMS AND GUESS WHO IT IS...**_

_**Let's get started, Dattebayo!  
**_

**_(Searing Matches)_**

Sakura felt all the blood drain from her face once she saw the screen, and the memory of that kiss was as dry as a desert in her mouth.

_"Gaara vs. Naruto."_

Silence filled the room.

"Lucky." Naruto beamed as though he'd just won a weeks worth of ramen. "I get to go first!"

"Ch-Chotto matte!" Naruto paused as a delicate hand clamped down upon his shoulder. "Naruto!"

He blinked, as something soft pressed to his cheek.

"Eh?"

"Good luck." Sakura was a positively pink as everyone gawped at this, this suddenly display of outward affection. Naruto just grinned like he'd won the lottery, scratched the back of his head, and truly flung himself over the rail as though there were no tomorrow. Gaara watched him sweep a leg over the rail, his foot twitching impatiently as he watched his first victim approach. This one? This would be boring, he told himself, this would't even be a challence.

_'Eh?'_

Without another word, Naruto flung himself over the rail.

"Hurry up and come."

Naruto touched down lightly, staggered a step, and found his balance.

"Lets have a good match, neh?"

Gaara scowled and Naruto abandoned the smile sheepishly.

"Or...not."

Thankfully, the first thing he went for the swords almost immediately. Abruptly, the Prelimnary Exam was silenst. Sakura felt a small flicker of relief. Apparently, everyone seemed to realize that Naruto wasn't as "helpless" as they'd initially presumed. With an eclectic snap-hiss they ignited, wreathed within twin coats of ruby red flame. Naruto twirled them backwards, as though testing their weight, but in reality Sakura could see his hands moving, twisting, twining, molding the chakra. He was moving his fingers with the blades, peforming seals while he did little more than flick back and forth in a flashy display meant to garner more attention to the katana than himself, and it this thought ended amongst a rush of euphoria for Sakura, _because it worked._

"I'm sorry if I hurt you with these." Naruto said.

"You can't touch me with those blades." Gaara drawled roughly. "I will kill you, and reaffirm my existence."

Naruto didn't answer as his hair burned black and his eyes inverted. Sakura was abruptly glad she knew what Naruto was, because if he hadn't, the old Sakura would have been a quivering, twitching mess right about now. This new Sakura, the kunoichi who was determined to make herself altogether a better person, well, she just smiled as the markings flowed freely across his flesh and wrapped Naruto's upper body in what, from here, looked like primitive tribal markings.

"Go...

What were those markings? Sakura swallowed, fearful that he'd been marked like Sasuke-kun...erm, _Sasuke_, but no. Naruto's tanned hide remained just that, clean and pristine and free of any hideous black bruise or blemishes. Besides, these tattoo's weren't anything like that fretful chakra Sasuke had been leaking. Y

"Go...

No one saw him making the seals amidst all that "showboating" as the make-up wearing Suna shinobi claimed. Sakura didn't bother to explain. If looks could kill, Kankuro would be face-down in a pool of his own blood, such was her baleful glare. Anxiety coursed through her breast as she looked on. Naruto was brash, but she knew now that he never ever did something without a reason. Hence the smile she wore. Hence the frivolous cry of "Good luck, Naruto!" when her teammate tipped both weapons downward and split the tiled floor within a powerful thrust. It wasn't an attack, he awaited the instructor's permission to begin before curling his hands around the hilts, and even then there was nothing.

"Alright." Hayate glanced from Naruto and then to Gaara. "Then let the first match of the Chunin Preliminary Exams...Begin!"

"Cha!" Everyone whirled around when Sakura pumped a hand into the air. "Kick his ass,_ Naruto!"_

Naruto was already moving, even as a gesyer of sand surged forward. Seizing the hilt and pommel of his blades, the stadium basked briefly within a crimson conflaguration. Naruto vanished. There one moment and gone the next, he buzzed into existence behind Gaara, stabbing outward with such speed that the Sunagakura shinobi hadn't the chance to dodge. Gaara smiled. Naruto screamed. When everyone saw the tendril of sand curling around the Uzumaki's hand, and saw Gaara's clench into a fist, the move was easily recognized.

"Stay away from his sand!" Kiba bellowed inexplicably. "Idiot!"

Naruto slashed himself free and skipped backward in a flying retreat. But the sand was much too fast, and Naruto wasn't fast enough. His arm came away, bloodied, and he skidded backward, hurtling himself upward in an incredible backward somersault, so incredible in fact, that it landed him in a crouched perch upon the handsign statue dominating the northernmost wall. He hung there for another moment, caught his breath, and incredibly, sat down to fold his legs.

Maito Guy laughed.

"So you gave him weights too, eh, rival Kakashi?"

Kakashi looked up from his book.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"OH MY GOD!" Gai momentarily launched into a furious mental breakdown upon being ignored.

"Sensei?" Sakura blinked owlishly. "Did you just say weights?"

"Naruto's always had his own training regiment, Sakura." Kakashi snapped his book shut, and the message was clear. End of discussion. It wasn't until she saw the downward curve of his eye and the _slight _lilt of his mask_ -how did she notice that all of a sudden-_ that Sakura realized sensei was _smiling. _Kakashi looked to the statue, where Naruto had disrobed to undershirt and slacks. Noticeably, there was a sizeable crack in the floor where he'd discarded them. Gaara remained complacent, staring upward as Naruto continued to remove any unceccesary attachments.

"I told you my students wouldn't lose, Gai." Kakashi turned the full force of his smile upon the neon-green jonin. "Now you'll see why."

Sakura twitched.

_'D-Don't tell me..._

"Yosh!" Naruto laughed suddenly, peeling off the seemingly harmless sweatbands from his wrists, and tossing them aside. Sakura turned gray when they blew two holes in the wall. Her left eye all but twitched as Naruto kicked off his sandals and summarily left two more dents in the floor. Finally, just when she thought there was no longer anything left for him to discard save for his slacks and kami forbid his boxers being weighted too, Sakura received a final surprise.

"Sakura!"

Naruto flung something at her and it took all she had not to flinch as his headband, _yes his headband_, smacked into her palm. Sakura, had she been the weakling of two days past, would've broken her arm, such was the NOT the force of the throw, but the actual weight of his headband. Her arms were aching! But why? It took a great deal of effort to turn it over and detect, to her disbelief, a series of stitches in the blue fabric that held the hitiate in place.

Gao nearly dropped his jaw when he saw what Sakura was holding.

_'He made a weight out of his headband, too?'_

Sakura couldn't believe her eyes. All this time, Naruto had been wearing weights? But this was...ridiculously heavy! So too, was the guilt and shame that settled upon her shoulders. _I acted like he was a nobody and the entire time he...he..he...ugh! I'm so stupid! _Sakura clenched a hand around the headband and leaned forward upon the rail to see the dents and dings left in the surroundings. _'C'mon, Naruto, win! You'd bettter stop holding back or I'll...I'll... _

"Oh dear." Kakashi was smiling again as Naruto burst to his feet. "It seems its time for round two."

_"Kami!" _

Sakura _yelped_, such was the ensuing burst of dirt and dust.

Naruto _jumped_, and Sakura lost sight of her lover. It wasn't until she heard a thick crrrraaaack that she thought to look toward Gaara. He'd flown. Literally. Naruto was rubbing at his fist, but Sabaku no Gaara was cratered at the other end of the stadium. Naruto stared after him, and with a wink, assumed the pose of Rock Lee. Sakura blushed amidst the enthused cries of a certain spandex clad genin who kept going on and on about how youthful his fellow shinobi was being. Naruto dropped the stance and stood patiently, waiting for Gaara to emerge. He hadn't long to wait, as a cascading wall of the stuff came crashing down on him from behind...rather it would have, but Naruto had already barreled forward and he was gone again.

Gaara hit the ceiling and glass sprayed across the room.

_'Where did he..._

Naruto buzzed into existence behind him.

"Surprise!" He grinned, pulling a fist back. "Didn't think I'd be this fast, did _youuuurgh!"_

_Damn but the sand was fast too._

Even then, everyone heard the crunch of bone as the blond slammed face-first into the perimeter wall. Sakura felt the railing bend beneath her hands as she ground them into fists, but not a single one of the genin seemed to notice, whereas all the jonin certainly did. Naruto leapt backward at the last instant sporting a bloodied forehead. Irritation flickered across his face, and suddenly katana faded into existence within his now clenched fists.

"YES!" Gaara cackled, suddenly maddened. "Stand up! There isn't enough blood!"

_'That chakra..._

"Oi, oi, he's going to get killed!" Shikamaru stared worriedly at where his troublesome friend had landed. "I know Naruto's something to prove, _but, this is just_ _ridiculous!"_ Sakura felt the rail wrench under her hands. _You're wrong. _She felt, rather than heard, as Hinata cried out in disbelief. _You're wrong._ As Ino winced, as everyone she knew_ -how on earth was she aware of all this-_ watched Naruto be beaten down again and again yet evades death, each time by a hairsbreadth of luck and providence, and she wanted to scream. Naruto! His reaction time was improving, but it was taking him to long, and there was no pattern for him to adapt to. With every blow, strike and the screams, she felt her eyes begint to boil, felt her jaw clench, felt...felt...felt...

**"Sabaku Kyū."**

To his credit, Naruto burned off the first attack. Then a massive fist of sand slapped him across the body with such force, he never had the time to defend. With a furious cry of disbelief, he crashed two yards away, on the opposite side of the arena, a visible imprint left behind in the wall. Gaara flung the sand after him before he could rise, before he could draw the chakra, before he could grab katana that had fallen from his fingertips during the collision.

_"He's dead."_

Sakura was aware of someone speaking as the ashen tethers of grit and dirt wound their way around Naruto's thighs, his waist, chest and neck. Before long he was enveloped in just that, a coffin, the very likeness of which was composed entirely of the foul smelling sand. Suddenly, Sakura was aware of who had spoken, and she was unaccountably angry. Sakura rounded on him. She, nearly broken and battered only hours before, found herself gripping the jacket of one Inuzuka Kiba, the latter's eyes wide and dumbfounded as his back made contact with concrete.

"What do you mean he's dead!" Sakura pushed him into the wall again when he did not reply. "What do you mean by that!"

Sakura knew something was wrong the instant Kiba Inuzuka looked away.

"We've seen this before." Something in that forlorn expression of his told Sakura not to hit him. She didn't, but neither did she release him. There was a hollow look in the Inuzuka's eyes, and she read all that she needed to know, within his face. Everything about him told her he'd seen this technique before. Sakura nudged Kiba until he blinked, grunted, and in the end, looked at her with a blank expression. That nearly broke her temper again, and she nearly babbled like an idiot, but with great effort, Sakura composed herself. She wasn't that stupid selfish bitch anymore. Calm down, she told her body, calm down at let go of him.

Shakily, she complied to her own orders.

"What do you mean?" The words were dry, ashen in her mouth. "You say that as if you've...

In short, Kiba relayed the experiences of Team 8 during the Forest of Death.

"That guy...used his sand to crush someone way stronger than us...into a pulp." Sakura flew herhands to her face, but she couldn't stifle the shriek of disbelief. At that exact instant, Gaara thrust both arms outward and used the sand to sweep Naruto upward. Toward the ceiling. Sakura couldn't see Naruto's face, such was the of grit and grime falling from that noxious sand. Everyone squinted for a better view of Naruto's impending demise, as the ascent slowed, just below the ceiling.

"No." Sakura found herself begging, but not to Gaara. "Don't. Please don't...

Gaara licked his lips.

**"Sabaku Sōsō."**

"Naruto!" Sakura felt her heart wrench, but the words of encouragement escaped her as the grotesque coffin of sand imploded. Imploded. Sakura wasn't even sure who was screaming, her, Naruto, or someone else entirely, but there was nothing to be done. Gaara unclenched his fist and a corpses crashed to the floor, splintering the tiles. She watched the now masterless katana arc through the air and bury themselves within the sand, for they were the only object that had escaped the carnage unscathed.

Sakura moaned.

Knowing it would be in vain, she fought the tears and raged impotently against the bile that rose up inside her throat. Even Sasuke was disquieted by the blonde's abrupt end. Kakashi-sensei hadn't a word to say, he seemed to be staring into the distance, and Sakura was staring, too. Staring at the broken corpse three feet below them, wondering how it had come and gone so suddenly, so swiftly and terribly, horribly wrong.

_"Oh, god."_

"You didn't actually...Oh god... That's..._uurgh!" _A cry was stuck somewhere inside her, lost in the dark emptiness in her throat. She stood woodenly, not taking enough care. The corpse lay there, dead as a doorknob, and Sakura smiled at the gallows humor. She smiled, and sobbed as its head head smacked roughly against the concrete. Sakura screamed. She screamed as Gaara drove the sand into the lielfess body and let it flail across the arena like a puppet severed from its stringsm limbs loose, graceless, lying in an uncomfortable position.

Just like any other corpse.

"NARUTO!"

Sakura screamed.

Abruptly, a streak of red burst from the darkness left by the broken lights. Naruto was standing, and he was breathing. He was dusting himself off, and he was smiling, even when he tried and failed to flop himself off the ground. Naruto coughed. _Coughed_, sucking in a ragged breath, flipping his protstrate form off the floor. Incredibly, his wounds were already healing, already sliding shut, and Sakura had to bite her lip to silence a squeal of joy. Naruto had recovered. Recovered and then some, as he'd enough time to react when a wall of sand crashing down upon him. Whereas he'd been too slow, _this time,_ Naruto crossed the blades defesnively as the sand attacked, and then he was gone for the third consecutive disappearance.

"Eh?" Sakura was still trying to process the blonde's sudden revival. "Naruto?"

"Katon!" He barked, inhaling explosively just behind Gaara, _"Hosenka!"_

Sasuke twitched slightly in irritation. Since when the hell could that LOSER use katon jutsu? He fidgeted furiously and watched the blazing shots thump into Gaara's shield of sand. Naruto was hard on their heels, sweeping beneath the shroud and seizing the redhead by the collar. The sand lunged at him, but he was already gone, and now, now Gaara was bleeding. Sakura stared at the sight for a long, long eternity of a time, and then she screamed.

"NARUTO!"

Naruto AND Gaara simultaneously rounded on her voice, such was the vehemence behind it. Naruto saw tears. He saw the thick globes of moisture spilling from those emerald eyes and suddenly, all at once, he wanted to kill the one responsible. Rather difficult to do that, considering he was the culprit. He couldn't bear to look her in the eye, it hurt just to breathe, too. Didn't she get that he'd woken up because of her, because of her voice?

Still, Naruto felt guilty.

"You...You baka!" Sakura didn't care if everyone stared, she _still _shouted. "Don't ever do that again! BAKA! I'll never forgive you if you die! Do you hear me! I won't! Really!" Still sobbing, she scrubbed at an eye with the back of a hand and sniffled again, unnerved, but content. He was alive. Gods he was a mess AGAIN but he was alive, damnit, and that's all that mattered. Naruto seemed to be more than having similair thoughts, as he stared upward for a moment longer, head drooped, hands clenched tight around the blades.

"I'm sick of this." He muttered morosely. "I'm sick of being a dissapointment." His head jerked up. "I'm sick of making people cry. _Especially...Sakura!"_ Gaara flinched as Naruto buzzed out of a existence, and became a wrait of black and orange as he took a simple step to the right. In that instant, Sakura watched the tip of his left blade sweep across the right for a just a moment. Within the illumination that was afforded, everyone saw the igniting spark between the katana as that blade caressed the tiled floor, swept through it like water, and struck, trailing crimson, brighter than before.

_"Hoo boy...guess I've got no choice, then."_

Abruptly, Naruto straightened.

"Gaara, did you know that a sword is _way _more powerful when you swing it with both hands?" Naruto wasn't Naruto again, he was that monster from the forest, but he was focusing that rage, temper and all, and bringing it to bear upon one Sabaku no Gaara. It was his fault, the fox insisted to its jailer. This redhead needed a lesson in PAIN and it demanded that Naruto be the teacher for the course in question.

This time, Naruto yielded to his darker desires.

_'I'll win. I. Will. Win.'_

This time, he'd prove himself.

"Of course." Gaara was eyeing Naruto warily, but his posture hadn't changed any. He still had absolute faith in his sand. That was going to be a mistake, Sakura realized. She'd seen those blades once already, and Naruto hadn't used both hands. Now that he was adopting a kendo stance, a traditional two handed striking pose, she didn't know what to expect. Sakura quivered. Kakashi spared them a glance, concern flickering through his lone eye.

_'No, its more than a simple increase in strength. But this...this is..._

Naruto had changed swords.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Gaara was losing patience. "You can't possibly hit me from that range."

In the instant that he'd dispelled one of his two handed blades and taken up the other, Naruto's katana had changed forms. The tip had changed, becoming a long and ragged nodaichi that had surely seen better days. But although plain, the blade streamed a sick and unholy energy from its tip, bleeding raw chakra into the air. No, that wasn't it. Naruto was feeding chakra into the blade and it was growing stronger with ever ounce that he eked into the edge.

"I'm touched." Naruto's voice changed, became light instead of dark, silvery almost, as it spilled down his back. Sakura blinked. What was that chakra he was molding? It felt...different. Warm. Not of ice like the Kyuubi's, but more like a warm, summer breeze. Naruto maintained those wonderfully lovely eyes as with a lighter shade, as with his hair as he molded chakra. "But please, do not worry about me. I promise, you'll have all the troubles in the world once this blade reaches you, and it WILL reach you, Gaara." A swirl of red foamed out of his stomach, and leapt into the blade, shrieking, hissing, spitting. Naruto stood to the south, Gaara, the north, both easily yards apart.

There was no blade that could reach so far, was there?

_'The name of this sword is how I draw them. The name of this sword is..._

Kakashi frowned as Naruto took a stance.

"I still don't know how to do this, but...

He clapped his hands, and the sword responded.

"I think I found the name for my bloodline."

There was only one blade like that, a blade that devoured chakra to change form, and it wasn't Samehada. Naruto's chakra, no, Kyuubi's chakra was flowing into that blade, burgeoning the energies within to insane proportions. Did that blade actually serve as a conduit for the Kyuubi's chakra? With only the slightest twitch, Kakashi turned toward his newly reformed student. Sakura was too enrapt with attention to notice her sensei's piercing stare, to fixated upon the miniature war below, to notice that _Kakashi _noticed. Noticed those subtle changes bestowed upon her by Naruto, noticed the flickering of red chakra at the edge of her blue, just a glimmer, but it was unmistakably bijuu chakra.

"Sakura." Kakashi swallowed, "Sakura, where did you say...Naruto brought those blades from...again?"

She shook her head rapidly and did not look away from Naruto's match.

"You'd never believe me even if I told you, sensei."

Meanwhile, Naruto had paused, his face a rictus of fury down below.

"I don't think you do know, Gaara."

Without warning, he dropped the blade, and when Naruto dropped the blade, he didn't just drop it. He did not release the handle and allow it to crash to the floor. He did not relinquish the vice that be his hand, from the vloth wrapped hilt that blazed with the blade of chakra and flame. No, when Naruto dropped, he dropped. That was what he did with this blade. There was no elaborate swinging or sweeping to the side in a graceful arc, as he raised the nodaichi over his head.

He dropped it and the stadium floor all but burst.

"Kill 'em." Naruto announced bleakly, and the nodachi violently contracted, shortening to a wakizashi streaming gentle silber light as its tip touched the soil. _"Kamishini no yari!" _Sakura shrieked, a hand flying to shield her face and an arm raised to protect her chest from debris, as the blade burst forward. A great and terrible curving crescent was born shooting outward from the hilt with such wild and uncontrolled speed that even had he been prepared for it, Gaara would have been hard pressed to evade. It crossed the room in all of a single heartbeat. A veritable geyser of silver luminance energy, it burst outward. Leaving the tappered tip, gushing toward Gaara, elongating, the redhead blinked. That was all he had time to do before the terrible energies of flame and chakra turned his ultimate defense to glass..._and came shattering through._

**(Note: Kamishin no yari is the Japanese equivalent for "god killing spear" I believe the translation is.)**

_"GYYYAAAAAAAH!"_

A bloodcurdling scream filled the stadium in the same instant that Gaara's gourd exploded. It did him little good. Shukaku's transformation had been too little, too late, Temari realized, and all it'd done was spare Gaara from certain death. Temari felt an explosion of sympathy in her chest as her younger brother toppled to the floor, bleeding from a shallow gash. Unconscious. The half-transformation had only gone as far as his chest and left arm, and it was already dissolving before anyone could recognize it, but the result was the same regardless.

"W-Winner," Sakura gawped and Sasuke was smoldering as Naruto's hand was raised by the proctor. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Way to go! Naruto!" The blond was blushing furiously as Sakura's cheering preceeded his ascent up the stairwell.

Naruto just grinned.

"I won't lose." He told himself. "Not anymore."

Not to anyone.


	4. Swearing

**A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! I WORKED MY ASS OFF ON THIS CHAPTER! ASSKICKING! DRAMA! ACTION! FLUFF! EPICNESS! YOU WILL FIND IT HERE! For some reason, although this is slightly AU, this chapter was absurdly difficult to write with everyone in their character for this particular setting. Still, I_m so glad all of you are enjoying the effort I'm putting into this story! __Alright, get ready for a new ass _**_**kicking after all the wonderfully rave reviews you've given me**__**. Again, I'm just so glad all of you are enjoying reading this as I am writing all of it b**__**ut enough of all this blah-blah-BLAH! Also, IGNORE the second chapters author note that was the WRONG ONE LOL **_

_**Let's get started, Dattebayo!  
**_

**_(Swearing Matches)_**

Sakura felt all the blood rise to her face as he cleared the last step. His bloodline dissipating even as he cleared the stairs, withering back into true sapphire and platinum blond as he was meant to be. Disqueting murmurs greeted Naruto return, one of which was alarmingly hostile. Uchiha Sasuke stood aways behind them, trembling as though he were caught within the throes of a great and terrible cataclysmic quake. Kakashi ruffled Naruto's hair in the way a father might their son's, and from Team guy...well, their response was...youthful.

Sakura _barely _noticed any of them.

Still, she waited for Naruto to successfully clear the steps, first. Sakura bolted. Naruto yelped. Yelped, as he was seized in a bone crushing embrace, one that last for all of an instant and again, reminded all the spectators of the eerie change that had taken place between the two. Sakura was well aware of Yamanaka Ino, in particular. Her former rival in their "_quest _for Sasuke-kun" wasn't quite gawping anymore, but neither did concern or understanding adjourn the pale, alabaster features of her face.

Swung out of their little twirl and placed upon her feet, Sakura, quite frankly, didn't give a rat's ass about what everyone seemed to think was an obvious trick of some sort. She was _enrapt _in attention as her teammate hazily sketched out the details of his match, how he'd been able to come back from death, and how he'd managed to, somehow, pull another blade from his body. And then Uzumaki Naruto revealed to Haruno Sakura that crucial piece of information she'd been seeking for so long. The truth of whether he was simply using the demon fox's power to pull weapons from his body, or if there was a relatively less sinister force at work here.

She wasn't disappointed.

_"Mugenshīsu?"_

Sakura blinked owlishly.

"I think it means limitless sheathe." Naruto flexed a hand uncertainly. "Well, I think it _-he wouldn't speak of the fox directly-_ told me I'm the sheathe, so that must mean the swords come from inside me, I guess." He offered a mute shrug when this earned him a muddied scowl of mixed emotions. _Pity. _It seemed he didn't know much about it at all. But it did, however, mean that Naruto had a bloodline. Only, he didn't know how to materialize an actual semblance of blades, save for the two that seemed to permanently affix themselves to his back within those now silver hilt-wraps...

_Silver?_

Sakura risked a glance at Naruto's back. She hadn't seen him ever sheathe the blades before, but she did know that he'd fastened them down with a series of cord bindings. Now, however, instead of lying naked upon Naruto's back, the blades were sheathed in the aforementioned wrappings of bright and garish silver. Said silver seeming to sparkle in the returning light now, as the examiners finally repaired the lighting fixtures after what damaged had been done during Naruto's scuffle with Gaara.

"Ehehehe...

If the world scuffle could be applied to the upheaved portions of tile and concrete. Naruto chuckled sheepishly at Sakura and stuck out his tongue, as he was currently donning his garments again, save for the hideous orange jacket, which he opted not to wear, and left draped humorously around Sakura's too-small shoulders. This gesture, whether being one of affection or simple inattention, did not go unnoticed by the Rookie Nine or the Sound and Suna shinobi, for Sakura took it as neither, exhaled softly, and placed her head against Naruto's shoulder.

"You always overdo it, don't you?" She grumbled, her voice unusually slurred, her eyes heavily lidded as a week of exhaustion _-strange, it only felt like a day- _caught up with her body. More of curiosity than any actual threat assessment, she spared a glance to the Sunagakure faction, as they were only a few paces away, and had yet to speak, or un-rivet their gazes from the floor. Sakura knew that they'd be seeking revenge as the blond one looked to her, but she stuck out he tongue none-the-less, a gesture that said "yes he beat him and YES that'll be you if you fight him" suddenly totally intent, Sakura sighed and decided she wanted to nuzzle her head into the shoulder of "her" blondie-kun.

_'Damn, I'm tired..._

Naruto flared crimson from head to toe, and this too, was not missed. He leaned himself against the rail. Willed his body to unclench. _Relax._This was normal, right? Couples did stuff like this all the time, right? He spared a glance at Sakura when she exhaled softly, closed her eyes, and suddenly, Uzumaki Naruto wanted her to stay there for the rest of his life. This sudden swelling of emotions came as a surprise to the genin. He liked Sakura. He _really _liked Sakura. But somehow, even after the hurried kiss in the hall, so swift and sudden that it left his lips and mouth numb, Naruto was baffled. Even a feeling like that paled in comparison to this sudden surge of warmth in his cheeks.

Gods...she just looked so perfect there. Soon, the sound of snoring reached his ears. Naruto bit his lip and he bit it hard, because he didn't want to laugh. If he laughed she'd wake up and he'd lose this moment forever, no matter how much he found this instant to be humorous. He knew everyone was staring, that everyone would be asking questions, but suddenly, incredibly, he didn't care. Naruto, it was incredible to still think of himself as just Naruto, scooted inward and brought himself a little closer to the slumbering pinkette.

Cripes, she really wasn't faking, was she? Naruto dared to twist a bit, allowing her to fall into his chest in the exact same instant he dared to drape an arm about her shoulders. Pulling her inward, the motion felt stiff, jerky, cumbersome, and it should. After all, this was the first time Naruto had done, or dared to do such a thing. When Sakura's lips curved upward ever-so slightly -adorably- Naruto did the only thing he could think to do in such a situation.

He started to shake.

Naruto wanted to see her face like that for the rest of his life. He wanted to wake up to that face every morning, every day, ever night, he wanted that smile to never leave. He wanted her, not for her smile or her body, or her personality -though each aspect only served to further complete such a beauty- Naruto just wanted Sakura because, she was _Sakura. _He knew he should stop shaking, should dissolve the thoughts of this was impossible, that this shouldn't be happening to him, but every fiber of his being screamed, yes. Yes, this was genuine, yes this is real, and _yes, you are awake._

Even moreso when a hot blooded and "youthful" Rock Lee ruined everything.

"YOSH!"

Naruto stiffened visibly against the sudden declaration, perhaps even moreso as the enthused green genin darted towards him. "That was a most excellent battle, Naruto-kun!" Naruto ravished Lee with that baleful glare that froze men's souls. Lee just grinned, a stray sparkle shining from his pearly white teeth. Naruto, shushed him and jerked his gaze toward Sakura, but Lee didn't even blink. After all, he was much too busy shouting his congratulations to notice, the kunocihi stirring in Naruto's arms. That is, until Naruto headbutted Lee. And of course, it only made everything worse.

"Shush!" He jammed a finger toward Sakura. "She's sleeping!"

"OH! My sincerest apologies-

"Be quiet, damnit!" The blond pressed a finger to his lips in the proverbial gesture of silence. For what little good it did him. Lee apologized -loudly- and Naruto was about to attempt a less docile way of shutting Bushy Brow's trap, when a small groan reached his ears. "Ah, Sakura-san, you're awa-**mmph!"**Lee toppled backwards, a throbbing red mark pulsated across his face, courtesy of Naruto's sandal. Naruto lowered his leg, glaring burning black flames of anger as the student of Maito Gai swayed backward like a drunk. "Damnit Bushy Brow! I told you to shut up!" Naruto, too late, realized _he _had shouted.

"Ah, Naruto-kun," Lee reproached, "Now you are the one being loud."

"Sh!" Naruto hissed, but it was already too late, Sakura had begun to stir.

"N-Naruto?" she asked in a thick voice as she sat up and rubbed at her eyes. She mumbled incoherently, and scrubbed at the back of an eye and Naruto's disgruntlement over Lee's "youth" dissipated as a beatific grin spread across her face. "Did I miss anything?" She was still blinking the sleep from her eyes, unaware of he sudden fainting spell. "Nani?" She blinked again, realizing that she wasn't even remotely aware of why she had closed her eyes in the first place.

"I must've fallen asleep...

For an instant Naruto was struck by how cute she looked doing that, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand like a little kid – nothing like the "weakling" she had insisted she'd been. Kunoichi, or no kunoichi, in that moment, she was something more than just cute. Sakura was beautiful. He shook his head. She wouldn't appreciate that comment. It might upset her, and after all the emotional trauma she'd been through in the last five days, Uzumaki Naruto had no desire to be making fun of her either.

_'Gods, she's adorable..._

"Naruto?" Sakura blinked up at him. "I-Is there something on my face?"

_Crap!_

"A-Ah!" Naruto flushed and looked away as she stopped rubbing at an eye. "I-It's nothing! Erm...um...I mean, look! The second match is starting!" Sakura joined him now, as did all the other genin, in watching the screen, Naruto's predicament forgotten as the names streaked across the black screen at random intervals. Naruto wiped at his brow, trembling. That trembled turned into another small shudder as Sakura brushed up against him, looped an arm within his own. Yet again he was reminded of that brief kiss. _Damnit, stop thinking about that! _With trembling fingers, Naruto willed his hand to close around hers when she took it, beating back a small gasp when she twined their fingers together.

_'Yikes, that was close..._

"Yosh!" Lee seemed to hop in place as the names for the second match scrawled across the plasma screen at an all but blinding pace. "I will be next! I am most certain of it!" Naruto glared bloody red daggers at his youthful friend for a moment longer, seriously hoping he WOULD go next so he could rest. Sasuke stared intently at the screen, pausing only briefly to glare at his teammates, though he held no envy for them, they were weak, after all, in his eyes. Sakura was worthless now, and the dead last had just got lucky, he reminded himself. He'd be next, and he'd win. He was an Uchiha, after all. The weaklings would fight last, of course, only after the strong had all their matches, naturally.

No such luck.

**_Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka._**

Sakura's eye twitched in the exact instant that Naruto and Shikamaru simultaneously slapped a palm to their forehead. Sakura bent to a knee, and reluctantly, adjusted her sandals. In _that _instant she allowed Naruto's jacket to slide from her shoulders, her concentration honed, razor sharp. _Damn. _Physically, Ino was the best opponent for her. Mentally, not so much. If there was anyone with a more checkered past between them, Sakura had yet to compare them to her friendship with the Yamanaka.

_'Again!'_

Sasuke exhaled furiously.

"For the love of kami, stop cuddling and hurry up already, Saku-

Naruto glared at him with those slitted red eyes.

_"Don't."_

"D-Don't what?" Sasuke snorted, indignant.

"Don't talk to Sakura like that, Sasuke." Naruto rumbled, and when Sasuke blinked, the crimson was gone. He must've imagined it. Naruto's scowl however, was all to real. Sasuke didn't flinch. Naruto didn't budge, either. Sakura fidgeted, reminding them of her match. Naruto exhaled furiously, elbowing Sasuke as he pushed past.

"Jerk." He mumbled.

Reluctantly, Naruto removed his arm from her shoulder. When Sakura straightened up, Ino was already leaving the stairs and Hayate was frowning, so she forced a smile, missing the tense expression filling Naruto's face, and opted _not _to vault the railing. Naruto hesitantly patted her shoulder, but not from any sign of hesitation. Sakura snatched his hand before it could leave his shoulder and kept it there, felt him give a gentle squeeze, and returned it.

"Careful." He muttered quietly. "Sakura-chan."

"S-Sure."

She smiled, queasy at the thought of fighting her childhood friend. Ino had been glaring at her ever since the first match. Not that it mattered, but Sakura generally disliked the thought of fighting when Ino no longer had a reason to hate her. Or did she hate her because of Naruto? Sakura shook her head and forced a smile. N-No, Ino's thoughts didn't matter. Sakura squeaked when something quaky and shaking pressed against her cheek. She blushed. Flushed, turned a shade of pink of when a bashful Naruto jerked away from her with all the indefatigable speed he possessed.

"F-For good luck." Naruto mumbled, finding his sandals fascinating in that moment.

Sakura somehow resisted the urge to squeal.

"Naruto?"

"Uh?"

Sakura smiled again, -_genuinely- _and risked a peck at his cheek as she snuck past him. Kami, her face was burning! She could feel Ino's killing intent where she stood, and Sakura swallowed as those stairs loomed before her. Maybe the staircase was a bad idea, after all. If she went that way Ino and the others woul have more time to stare. Gods, she felt like Hinata! Sakura couldn't bear another moment standing her, with everyone waiting for her to begin her preliminary bout.

"Thanks."

Abruptly, she changed her mind, and vaulted the rail. Of course, with her already _oh-so-subtle_increase in strength, Sakura went considerably farther than she expected and landed badly off balance. In a stumbling steb, she nearly fell facefirst, to Naruto's cry of outrage and dismay. Ino laughed, and Sakura was quick to realize that perhaps the Yamanaka was acting out of spite. Naruto's subsequent reply of encouragement took that scorn and smashed it into the rubble.

"Kick her ass, Sakura-chan!" He was actually air-punching behind her, jeez! "You can do it! Beat her up!"

Sakura flushed, prompting a roll of the eyes from Ino while Hayate cleared his throat.

"Can't you do anything by yourself, billboard brow?" Ino asked in a superior tone as she slid back into a taijutsu stance. Sakura ignored the blond, knowing Ino just wanted her angry and off balance. Once a friend and formerly a rival and now something that was neither nor in between. Neither, and a word that Sakura seldom used. An obstacle. Ino barred her from advancing to the finals. Naruto had won his match, and if Sakura lost here, she wouldn't be advancing.

_'I can't lose here.'_

She took the high road, and abruptly, she'd slid down her headband, tied it tight across her forehead. _Revenge was sweet. _Ino looked like she was about to explode. Sakura smiled knowingly, because Ino, and Ino alone knew the meaning behind the placement of her headband.

"Say, Ino."

"What." The kunoichi growled, eyes smoldering orbs of blazing blue

"You can have Sasuke-kun." Sakura hadn't meant it as a taunt; it was intended to clear the air between them. "I've lost interest." There, the only reason for their rivalry, dissolved. Surely she'd see the fairness behind her decision? Wrong. Sakura watched as Ino paused, blinked, and then, scowled up at Naruto with thinly veiled disbelief. Instead of dispelling the tension, she'd made it worse. Ino was ridiculously proud of herself and her accomplishments, and when that pride was suppressed, trampled, or abandoned...

"Like I need your permission!" Sakura flinched in surprise as pebble struck her hitiate, reflected. "Sakura!"

"Ino?"

"You think you can just say, "I'm done" and that's it? Do you!" Sakura blinked, flabbergasted. Ino didn't need to speak. Her eyes spoke entire volumes. Screw friendship! She wanted to win! Of course, therein lie Sakura, who'd technically already won, given that she'd dropped Sasuke like a hot potato, for someone who actually cared underneath all that bragging and bluster. Unlike Naruto, she had no bloodline to rely upon, no inner monster to fuel her strength. Meaning that Ino, was in the same predicament as Sakura; inevitably bringing the match down to taijutsu.

"I don't care if you date a log, billboard-brow, Sakura!" Ino flung another pebble as Hayate inquired as to their readiness. "But him!" Ino stabbed a quivering finger toward a blinking Naruto. "Him? Are you fucking blind! He's nothing! You can't be with a wimp like that! What the hell does that loser have, huh!"

_Damnit._

"Well, that's your opinion." Sakura didn't care about this ridiculous rivalry. "I've no interest in Sasuke now, that's all." But that didn't help one bit when she heard Ino's next words. Sakura watched the blonde's lips curl upward as she thought of something. Sakura rocked back on her heels as Hayate announced the start of their match. They didn't move, but the match was already decided with these words Ino so foolishly tossed toward her former friend.

"Fine, I'll gladly take Sasuke-kun of your hands. He's too much for you anyway."

_'O-kay..._

"Sure. Great. Wonderful." Sakura shrugged, realizing Ino was just being childish. "I'm happy for you, Ino-

"You too, Sakura." Ino smiled abruptly, a cold, unamused smile. "Someone like you deserves _something _like that...

**_"?"_**

"When you trade first-class for dead last."

**_Ba-dump._**

Sakura froze, the hackles on the back of her neck rising in a moment of disbelief and wordless rage. _He isn't dead last. _Sakura looked at Ino, saw the cruelty lingering there, and something twisted twice inside her stomach. _He isn't._ Cold fury burned the world white. _What do you know about Naruto?_A tide of bitterness boiled inside her chest and threatened to choke Sakura. She felt her mind slipping as she blinked in disbelief, shocked by the words and their spite. **Bitch. **She'd been like that once, and Ino was _still _that, because she had her head stuck so far up that emo-bastard's ass she couldn't see love if it slapped her across the fucking face!

Something chuckled.

_**'How dare you!'**_

Sakura reeled from this brief lapse of judgement, and character, and suddenly, she was unaccountably angry. but it returned with a particular goal in mind. Sakura dropped back a half pace, one hand crooking into a claw, the other brought about around as she swept her left leg to the east, and the right, to the west. She placed the other across the floor, and winced as her hands gouged out the stone and left thin tears in their wake, screeching, spitting and...and...

Kakashi frowned.

_'That chakra...no, that can't be right..._

"Say that again, Ino-pig," Sakura mumbled, "I didn't hear you the first time." Ino blinked, evidently pleased that her barb had struck home. _At first._ But now it was _surprise _that flickered across her face and _her _eyes that narrowed, and _her _jaw that locked against the sudden gleam of crimson. _Naruto blinked_. Squinted down at Sakura. Froze, as she hunched her back and fell into a crouch. But that was the same posture he took when he-! Then he saw the chakra. She had a hand against it, against a broken tile, and ripped it out of the ground with ease. Her chakra coils...were acting strange. Naruto watched sweat glisten from her brow and gleam into chakra, red chakra, not the natural blue that all living beings possessed, in fact it looked almost like the...

**"Figured it out have you?" **Kyuubi chuckled. **"I did warn you, kit."**

_'Shit!'_

Naruto seldom cussed. He didn't like the words in general, but now, now, as he looked on, Sakura crushed the tile into a fist. Naruto watched the vermilion chakra coalesce into a fist, and he watched as that fist was leveled toward Ino, hissing and spitting and snaring with chakra. Ino took a small step southward, in retreat. Sakura's eyes snapped open and they were no longer green. She crooned at her with two fingers, a furious hiss leaving her lips as her eyes inexplicably became rimmed violet.

"Say it again, Ino." Sakura ravished her best friend with a smoldering glare. "I'm waiting."

Naruto swore a black and condemnatory oath.

_"Wu-oh."_

"Say it again, Ino!" Sakura screamed loudly! "Say it, because it'll be the _la**st thing you ever say, bitch!"**_

_'How the heck does she still that much of Kyuubi's chakra!' Naruto stared downward in stupefication. 'You! What did you do, you damned fox!' _All he received was laughter as the prescence faded from his mind; leaving him reeling for any kind of conclusion. **"She'll make a nice enough mate, I think." **The fox was gone again before Naruto could catch its prescence. **"You should be grateful to me, kit!"**

_'What!'_

"Begin!" Hayate commanded.

**OoOoO**

Shikamaru winced as he witnessed Ino's attempt at psychological warfare. While it was a valid tactic, but given Sakura's current state, insulting her during a intimate moment it was also the worst way to make her, or any woman become troublesome. Naruto looked less than pleased as well, such was the gleam in his eye. Interestingly enough, Sakura's eyes _also _had a tinting of _red _to them. But that must have been a trick of the light, her eyes had been their usual green as she descended from the staircase, steps slow and deliberate, as though she were taking great efforts to control herself in a way he wouldn't personally recommend.

When the examiner said "Begin!" there was a pink blur of motion that ended in a loud crack. Ino coughed up a globule of blood. Sakura pulled the fist from the already bruising flesh of her stomach and bellowed outward at Ino with such force that even Naruto flung up an arm in defense. The earth burst. Literally. The tiles left the ground in the same instant Sakura _flickered _out of existence, trailing an indiscriminate streak of red chakra in her wake, catapulting the dust and dirt and gravel into the air.

"Ino!" Chouji yelped fearfully.

Naruto groaned against Chouji's cry of disbelief.

"Its no good." He shook his head. "If she doesn't forfeit, she's finished."

"You don't know that, i-idiot!" Chouji spluttered."Ino is-

_"Finished."_Naruto repeated flatly. "Trust me."

Shikamaru exhaled violently.

"Maaaaan...this was the worst matchup for her." Shikamaru jerked his gaze around, away from the match. "Sakura's supposed to be friends with Ino, isn't she?" Naruto snorted, the verbal beatdown was almost too painful to watch. "Well, she sure ain't being very friendly with her right now." He shook his head, folded both hands behind his head, and sighed. Shikamaru clamped down against the sudden burst of frustration that inexplicably boiled within his chest. _Damn, but he's right! Sakura shouldn't be this strong! When on earth did she-_

"She's done for." Dosu sidled up to them, using a voice that was just a bit too eerie. "That girl never had a chance."

Naruto twisted around to seethe at the sound shinobi, but said nothing, did nothing, to erase his smile. Dosu offered his shoulders in a shrug, and Naruto considered obliterating them. Instead he did the most unexpected and ridiculous thing; he smiled at Dosu. At once, Dosu lost that amused gleam in his eye, and for good reason, as concussive wave blasted outward and nearly swept the Sound shinobi clear off his feet, such was the surge of killer intent.

"I told you to shut up!" Naruto hissed. _**"So shut up!"**_

_'What?' _Shikamaru froze, dread coiling around him, constricting his voice as a python would a large rat. And all the while a slow smile spread from Naruto's lips, curling, without exposing teeth._ 'Why the hell is he smiling like that?' _Naruto placed one hand over an eye and shook his head in mock-mourning, and Shikamaru felt the disbelief and outrage roar even higher at this blatant display of scorn. It was just like that when he crushed that Gaara guy too. Someone he'd supposedly had no chance of defeating; and now, Sakura, was fighting a former friend, someone whom she should have been all but terrified of fighting head on.

Apparently not.

"That's just reality." Dosu mumbled, grumbling in such a way that Shikamaru frowned, and risked a glance toward Naruto. Naruto was staring intently down at the two kunoichi, one of whom was now flying in the opposite direction while the other hade moved only a few paces forward. He saw the slight quirk of a smile. Watched it become a frown, and immediately lurching upward into an unusually amused snarl, the kind of smile a predator would wear as they cornered their prey. And then it was gone. Gone, as Naruto gave a loud whoop and injected what Shikamaru immediately recognized as nothing other than laughter whilst someone hit the ground within the brutal break of bone and sinew.

_'Just now...was that...really Naruto?'_

"Way to go, Sakura-chan!"

Naruto's exuberant cry and Ino's simultaneous shriek plucked the Nara from his thoughts. Dosu had slunk back to the wall, but no one was even looking in his direction. All eyes were locked upon the one hit knockout from below. Everyone, Sand, Sound, and Leaf included,

Sakura was standing in the space formerly occupied by the Yamanka, fist extended. Shikamaru was the only one to notice that her eyes were a much darker shade of jade than normal, almost a deep crimson, such were their coloration. As for Ino, she was flying backwards, landing in a boneless heap three and a half meters behind her starting position. There was a large lump already forming upon the side of her jaw as she bounced once before sliding to a halt. To the untrained eye, it was quite apparent that the the blond had sustained a broken jaw, nothing so brutal as to instantly rupture an organ or threaten her life, but that Sakura had displayed that kind of chakra, for even an instant...

Kakashi slapped a hand over his Sharingan, and hid it beneath his hitiate.

_'How is this possible?'_

Below, a panting and gasping Sakura straightened upright.

"Just now...was that...?" She stared at her hands, as her eyes faded from violet to crimson, then back to emerald as the strange energies tore themselves into nothingness. Naruto visibly relaxed only after that last glimmer of scarlet vanished from her arms and legs. Whatever it had been, it was gone. After these, the first two matches, the stadium lay in ruins. Sakura hauled a glance upward to the blond, the latter looking as though he were about to leap into the ring himself. Sakura glanced about and found the arena to be nothing less than a pile of rubble. "Did...Did I do this?" She blinked, eyes beginning to well up with disbelief and awe, and finally, the tears.

"Way to go!"

**"!"**

"Oi, sensei! She won, right?" Naruto shouted insistently as Sakura wheeled toward his voice. "That's enough, isn't it! Isn't it? Just call it, already!"

Kakashi wasn't quite sure if Naruto knew the way to a woman's heart, but seemed to have the right idea, considering that Sakura's eyes were welling up with tears down below. He slid the headband down over his mask and shook his head slowly. How on earth did Sakura acquire a trace amount of Kyuubi chakra? Those eyes! For just a moment, it looked as though she were an actual jinchuuriki!

"She won!" Naruto insisted. "Fair and square!"

Kakashi shook his head, speechless.

_'Naruto...Sakura...Sasuke...just what happened to the three of you in that forest?'_

Gekkou Hayate stared at the clearly unconscious kunoichi as the one who struck her turned and began marching toward the staircase. Naruto was the first to pump a fist into the air with a loud cry and congratulate the Haruno's remarkable victory. Sakura couldn't find the words to describe her own emotions in that instant. So she smiled. She beamed, hands placed behind her head. Naruto was all of an instant from flinging her up and down before Hayate officially called the match.

Clearing his throat, Hayate announced,

"Winner, Haruno Sakura."

"YES!"Almost immediately Naruto wrapped Sakura into a huge hug. "So, stop crying! YOU WON! Yatta!"

"Yatta!" He hollered, remarkably, actually tossing Sakura a foot or so into the air, much to the disbelief of the latter. Sakura pushed down her skirt in the same instant that Naruto caught her at the hip and swung her down to the floor. Sakura laughed in the same instant, nearly collapsing as the blond snared her from her flying leap ending with her being utterly breathless, but at least somewhat safe in his arms and he looked and felt like the luckiest guy in the world as he heaped congratulations upon Sakura, something not unnoticed by those in the stands.

"You won! You won! YOU WON!" Was all that could be translated from his elated little victory dance. Kakashi didn't bother to tell them that this meant they might face each other in the finals. Why spoil the moment? He shook his head as the third match began to blur through the screen, and as Sakura began to swoon from spinning for so long.

"Naruto!" She protested weakly. "You're making me dizzy!"

"Ah!" He yelped, immediately relinquishing his grip. "Sorry!"

Shikamaru couldn't believe Ino lost. Just one burst of chakra from these two and WHAM their opponents went down in a single strike! First that creepy sand kid, and now Ino! It was almost enough to motivate the Nara to win his own match. Almost. Chouji seemed to be suffering from a similair lack of motivation. Why, even Asuma frowned as Kakashi took the pair aside for questioning. Honestly, did all three of them have to make it through so easily?

At this rate, Sasuke would probably win his match with a spectacular finisher of his own.

_'This is too troublesome for a guy like me..._

Shikamaru muttered something about those two being "troublesome" He watched the medics carry Ino away on a stretcher. Most troublesome, indeed. Now he really didn't want to fight at all. What a bunch of troublesome shinobi. He spared a final glance toward Ino, as she was carried away on the stretcher. _Damn._ He glowered, staring after his defeated teammate._Why'd you have to go and screw things up, Naruto?_She was sleeping soundly from what he could see, but that didn't do much of anything to curb this troublesome bout of irritation. Damnit, what _were _those two? A soft chiming sound announced that the match was set, and against his will, Shikamaru tore he gaze toward the screen.

"Damnit."

The next match was already set by the time he cleared the steps.

"Man...what a pain." He saw his name, of course. So he was fighting someone called Kin Tsuchi, huh? Mendoukse! **(Troublesome) **Shikamaru snarled lazily and glared at the floor for what felt like all of three seconds before a voice, shrill with disbelief and terror, ran through the arena. Gods, this one was noisy! Grumbling as Asuma nudged him toward the stairs, Shikamaru had just begn the long and arduous walk to the arena floor when he heard the words:

"I-I forfeit!"

"Huh?"

"F-Forfeit!" Kin choked out. "I forfeit!"

"Eh?" Shikamaru spun on one heel as the sound shinobi jerked her upper body downward in a low bow; explaining that she was giving up due to a lingering injury. Shikamaru followed her gaze as it fell upon that freaky looking _Oto _jonin. He shuddered, but didn't bother to ask why. He didn't give Kin's lingering stare upon Naruto much thought, either. Naruto blinked, looked from Shikamaru to the sound Kunoichi, scowled, and lost all the animation he'd had in his conversation with Sakura. Okay, that was odd. Bah, women were troublesome, but hey, now he was back in the stands and at least he didn't have to fight, right?

_Still..._

Shikamarau shook his head. _None of my business._He yawned, folded his legs against the rail, and contented himself for the fourth match. But he couldn't stop thinking about the dark look that guy kept giving his students. Urgh. Not my problem. If that guy was messed up, let somebody else take him out. He wasn't cut out for this bullshit. The less he tried to think of it, the more he thought of it. Ironic as it might seem, Nara Shikamaru was having trouble keeping himself unconcerned for a troublesome womean. Which is all why women were troublesome to begin with.

Maybe he should tell the Hokage about that freaky dude...

_Beep!_

_"Hmm?"_The tone rang and he creaked an eye open as two names displayed across the screen in prominent gold lettering. Naruto and Sakura had stopped celebrating, their eyes, glued to the screen in abject disbelief and horror. Notably, that Oto Jonin looked like he was about to have some kind of orgasm, the way he was convulsing. Sasuke spat a black and condemnatory oath. And Shikamaru knew, with an eye only half lidded, that this match would be the most troublesome one of them all.

**Dosu Kinuta vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

Sasuke clutched at the bruise on his neck. Pained, he turned his face toward an overwrought genin, also of Otogakura. Holy shit he looked like a freaking mummy! Such were the first thoughts in the mind of Nara Shikamaru as he watched Dosu ditch the worried expression, roll up a sleeve, and reveal the melody aparatus affixed to his arm. Sasuke stiffened, seeming to recall what kind of horrible trauma it had brought upon Kabuto-senpai; so the technique had to be sound based, in theory.

"Well now, it looks like I'll get to have a little fun, this time."

Dosu wobbled down the stairs. Shikamaru opened the other eye. Troublesome! Like the other otogakure shinobi, this one also looked toward Naruto. Naruto met the gaze, smiled, and cut his gaze to Sasuke, who was -albeit at a much slower pace- descending the stairwell. Naruto was smiling at the shinobi of a foreign country. Alert, Shikamaru watched Dosu incline his head so swiftly it looked as though it were little more than a muscular spasm.

_'Did he just nod?'_

But one did not smirk when they twitched, and laughter was unlikely as well. Shikamaru felt, rather than saw, Asuma's stare. He too, was staring at the "mummy-man" Well, that was Asuma for you. It took Sasuke all of thirty seconds to descend the staircase for some reason, and in those thirty seconds Shikamaru came to understand three things. One, Naruto knew this "Dosu" character. Two, Dosu had the look of a subordinate addressing a superior officer, not when he turned toward the Oto jonin -his gaze skimmed right over the man- but when it flickered once again toward Naruto.

Three, Naruto knew something that Shikamaru didn't, and whatever that something was, it had garnered him the loyalty of this shinobi.

"So?" Asuma took a long pull of his cigarette. "What do you think of him?"

"Which one?"

"Shikamaru...

"Sheesh, you're worse than Ino," The Nara feigned the action of leaning against the bars. Asuma pretended to drop his cigarette and lean forward for it. Five seconds of unnoticed whispering later, as Sasuke had now reached the floor, and voila, the fourth match was set to begin. Asuma was grave, his tone flinty as he took out a fresh smoke and pressed the lighter to the cigarette.

"Are you certain?" He asked.

"Does Naruto love ramen?" Shikamaru retorted evenly.

Asuma chuckled as Hayate signaled the beginning of the match.

"Look's like we're about to find out."

And thus, began the fourth match.

**A/N: C'mon really? DOSU IS AWESOME! I'M SO SAD THAT GAARA KILLED HIM! SO I FIGURED WITH GAARA DEFEATED...shouldn't he live? Also, some clarification, just in case. Team Dosu, one armed Zaku and all, passed the second exam. Now, I've got a soft spot for Dosu and Kin, but Zaku? He's an ASSHOLE. He's gone gone gone as you'll see in the next chapter. Second, Gaara is not dead, but who knows how his defeat will affect the invasion, or if one will even occur? Third, will Sasuke win? MAYBE. Fourth, What were Shikamaru and Asuma talking about that has to do with Naruto and Dosu's new, odd, unexplained loyalty to him? Well now, that's why you'll read the next chapter then, neh? Anywho, you know how we do, Read, Rave, and Review! LOL! The prelims end as of next chapter and you know who we'll get to see after that...ERO-SENIN-SAMA! BWAHAHAHA!**


	5. Breaking

**A/N: First, a moment of silence. For all those in japan that have lost their lives to the tsunami and earthquake that has devastated the northeastern coast, and all those left to carry on in their stead and searh for survivors. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those who have been affected by this terrible cataclysm. I know that words alone cannot express their grief, their pain, their loss, or all the families that are suffering there now, but may they find peace in the afterlife, for those of you who believe, and those that don't.**

**All those who have suffered...our hearts and thoughts go out to you.**

**...**

**Well, I suppose I should start writing, then**

**PLEASE REVIEW! THIS GAVE ME HECK!WORKED MY ASS OFF ON THIS CHAPTER! ASSKICKING! DRAMA! ACTION! FLUFF! EPICNESS! YOU WILL FIND IT HERE! For some reason, although this is slightly AU, this chapter was absurdly difficult to write with everyone in their character for this particular setting. Still, I_m so glad all of you are enjoying the effort I'm putting into this story! __Alright, get ready for a new ass _**_**kicking after all the wonderfully rave reviews you've given me**__**. Again, I'm just so glad all of you are enjoying reading this as I am writing all of it b**__**ut enough of all this blah-blah-BLAH! Also, IGNORE the second chapters author note that was the WRONG ONE LOL **_

_**Let's get started, Dattebayo!  
**_

**_(Breaking Matches)_**

Dosu jolted forward the moment that damnable examiner lowered his hand.

_'I am not a tool.'_

Gliding across the shattered tiles that somehow remained despite the first three matches, he appeared behind Uchiha Sasuke. The avenger snarled in disbelief, throwing himself forward, stumbling and tripping over himself as he tried to distance himself from the inert Otou Shinobi. Dosu didn't pursue. He tilted his head, the crinkling of an eye hinting at the amusement lurking beneath the bandages. If he crushed the Uchiha, he'd prove to Orochimaru that he wasn't a tool, that he _wasn't _to be underestimated.

_'I will never be underestimated.'_

Because Dosu Kinuta wanted nothing more than some semblance of worth in this otherwise worthless world. Dosu Kinuta had joined Orochimaru with the belief that the Sannin would help him fufill this glorious dream of his. It was all folly. _Folly! _He'd been naive then and he was naive now, only slightly wiser in the ways of the world. The Blade User had been presented with a similar predicament. The bull had offered each of its horns and Naruto had vaulted over the bull's head. _That _was the measure of man who'd make something of himself. That was the boy who would one day rise above all this, all of this travesty and despair and lack of self worth that plagued Dosu and haunted his every waking moment.

How enviable.

Dosu envied that child. He envied him, as he observed the boy; curling an arm around the girl with whom he'd become so close. Those two shared a bond that surpassed the flesh; because Dosu could see Sakura become radiant when the Blade Wielder nervously draped his wrist across her and used it as an excuse to pull her closer still. The sight set something aflame inside him. Anger? No, he bore no ill-will towards his benefactor, the child was simply better than him, as was the kunoichi in his arms.

Dosu saw the blur in his peripheals and batted it aside with a hard backhand of the wrist. He heard the Melody Arm make _sweet sweet music_, again composing for him the musical stylings of steel upon flesh. It was a dull and hollow note, reminiscent of the harsh _thwack _you got when unyielding metal met tender flesh. Dosu blinked, drawn from his musings by the eerie symphony. Ah, that's right, this was neither the time nor the place for thoughts, this was the time for music. Dosu remembered where he was, what he was doing. Dosu glanced askance, turning himself, bringing the full weight of his gaze crashing down upon Uchiha Sasuke with all the might of his next attack.

"Here I come."

Dosu blurred forward for Uchiha Sasuke's head.

"Sasuke, his arm!" Naruto bellowed a last second warning to his overconfident comrade. "Damnit, _watch out for his right arm!" _Sasuke flung himself backward, inhaled, and spat. Spat, to which Dosu did a double blink as his vision filled with flame; because the Uchiha had somehow fought through the pain and spewed a torrent of medium-sized flaming spheres. Each of which could easily melt the flesh from his bones and leave him with terrible burns.

**"Housenka no jutsu!"**

Dosu smiled and exposed the amplifier on the aformentioned limb. Sliding to a halt before the onrushing conflagration, he raised his right arm, palm out as though he were pushing against an invisible wall, of sorts. The flames _stopped, _and twisted at an impossible angle, some veering aside, others disintegrating, and still others bounced. Sasuke gawped at the commandeered technqiue and hurled himself aside, too late, as Dosu returned fire with the abducted inferno.

_'Shit! How in the hell did he steal my jutsu?'_

Remarkably, this was _exactly _what had happened.

"Here, allow me to return this to you, Uchiha Sasuke." Dosu literally lowered his hand and most of the flames simply ceased to exist. The last three fared slightly better, making it to within a foot of him, before they abruptly changed course and slammed into the unoccupied tile where Sasuke had last been seen. Beside Naruto, Sakura flinched. Naruto empathized; even _he _hadn't seen that one coming and now there was no point to further speculation because Sasuke was already stalking out of the fumes, armed with a kunai for each hand.

"Sasuke, you bastard!" Naruto laughed as a sudden gust of flame baked the floor at Dosu's feet and sent him skittering backward. "How in the hell did you avoid that, huh!" Sakura released a smaller, albeit still relieved breath, before squeezing Naruto's hand. "You had us worried, stupid!" Sasuke grunted and flung one of the kunai toward Dosu, and the other immediately therafter. Dosu didn't try to dodge, for their was no need; his right arm emitted a hollow tune as the first and then the second kunai bounched off the amplifier.

"Most unwise." Dosu tittered. "Do you know of my ability, Uchiha?"

"And that would be?" Sasuke smirked, and looked like he was about to say more, but then his balance went. The world swam in and out of focus, blurring, swaying, shaking and leaving the most horrid feeling churning into his stomach. Sasuke felt as though he'd just drank an entire gallon of rotten milk.

Naruto blinked rapidly, eyes growing wide and large as Sasuke buckled to his knees and roared in agony. Sasuke never, _ever _yelled like that. Yet here he was, reduced to a mere shell of his once great self, heaving up the remains of his last meal onto the ruined floor. Damnit, it was jus tlike Kabuto-senpai! Naruto watched as Dosu tittered softly to himself and approached the helpless Uchiha, walking at an unconcerned -lazy- pace that bespoke of utter confidence in his skills.

"It's a shame really, but you're finished now, Uchiha-kun." Dosu, incredibly, didn't finish it. Instead he stood over Sasuke, waiting for him to reclaim his balance. "But by all means, continue if you wish. I haven't had this much fun in quite some...time?" The reason for his pause soon became clear as Sasuke jerked his head upright, glaring bloody red daggers of fury. Charcoal black flared red and scarlet as two tomoe appeared within his brightening irises; Sharingan activated.

"Just who the hell do you think you're talking to_**...asshole!"**_

Dosu never saw the attack. It was just that fast. One moment he'd stood over the Uchiha, ready to deal the final blow. Then Sasuke smiled, _smiled _and Dosu became one with concrete. _Damn but that kid hit hard._ Unable to move, wedged into the granite, he was forced to watch as Sasuke found his footing. Across the room, Sasuke staggered upright. He was still reeling and off balance, but sooner than Dosu would have liked to admit, the boy was moving again, moving, and coming after him with a freakishly large shuriken.

"Do not approach him!" Sasuke heard Lee's bellow, he heard the warning, but it fell upon deaf ears. He was an Uchiha! He didn't need advice from that Bushy-Brow Freak! Besides, long-range combat was absolutely out of the question; you needed to get _close _to your opponent to finish them! He didn't need ninjutsu! He'd just needed to get close, predict his movements with the Sharingan and the match would be over in the blink of an eye!

Dosu blinked.

Blinked, and the Shuriken slammed into the place where his head had been. _He'd missed?_ No, that couldn't be right. He turned his gaze back toward the Uchiha startled to realize the distance between them had narrowed and shrank from nothing to less than nothing as the prodigy blurred out of sight.

Lee was of a similair mind.

"But that is...!"

A heel rocked the chin of Dosu Kinuta. He felt his jaw be shattered from the impact. Then he was set free from his prison of stone. Sasuke flung himself into a crouch and hurtled after him, launched too fast to be seen by the eye. Ah, so this then, was the Leaf Shadow Dance. Amusing, but ineffective. Dosu smiled despite his broken jawbone and chin. Sasuke reminded Dosu that from here on out this was all original and it was at that very moment, as the first blow shot toward his chest, that Dosu Kinuta laughed.

"What are you going to do when my powers engulf you at this range?"

Sasuke hesitated, just for an instant.

_"What?"_

Then Dosu put an end to it.

Taking his thumb and forefinger together, Dosu flicked them upon the Melody Arm, and Naruto _saw _the sound rippling outward. Emanating from base of the apparatus, spreading to greet their victim as they surged outward Sasuke. For all of his chakra, Sasuke never saw the invisible waves of death rippling toward him. Florating one moment, dominant in battle, prostrate the next, he toppled forward wordlessly, the words leaving his words in a deadened whisper of slumber as blood leaked from his nose, dribbled his lips, and joined the dripping of his ears.

_'Not like this..._

_**WHAM!**_

Dosu spun around quickly, slamming a plated arm into Saskue's body. With a surprised grunt, the pale-skinned avenger went flying down the arena, a trail of dark blood following his body through this failed attempt to end the match early. Numbed by the sheer strength of the blow, he plummeted to the earth and drove beneath its stony surface like a splinter. Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he watched and he found that his legs refused to move. He gawped as Sasuke flopped onto the crater his impact had created; slammed against the ruined landscape once gravity took hold of him, his skin skidding across the upturned tile as the momentum continued to drag him over the earth. Paralyzed feet were suddenly free from the ground as Naruto bolted to the rail and prepared to leap out into the ensuing conflagration before it was too late.

"Sasuke!" He swung his legs over the rail as Dosu touched down beside the battered Uchiha. "Hang on-

Kakashi's arm swung around in the exact instant that Naruto leapt forward. The result was truly spectacular. Naruto, having thrown most of his chakra into the leap, had already left the rusted railing by the time his sensei countered. Meaning that, despite the obvious difference in chakra, Naruto simply had nothing to support him when the elbow locked around his neck and hauled him backwards.

_**"Aargh!"**_

Perhaps _heaved _would have been more appropriate.

Because for all his newfound strength and power, Naruto was numbed by the impact. Granite splintered behind him and woudl've shattered his spine, had not Kyuubi's chakra been empowering him at the moment of collision. Naruto choked aloud as he felt his spine righting itself within an audible snap, one that only Sakura seemed to hear. She must've heard, because Naruto watched her watching him and witnessed the small cry leave her lips; expression twisting from disbelief to horror then to rage. Absolute and intent in her readiness to kill, _that _was the blackened flame so intense that Naruto himself would have been cowed, had he been the victim of such fury.

"Naruto!" Sakura _yelped _and for a moment _-wow- _her eyes flared the most beautiful shade of scarlet. _Sakura looked fierce. _Her lips had pulled back into the beginnings of a snarl, her perfectly manicured and still dangerously sharp nails seemed to become sharper; features becoming feral as a dray gleam of red chakra escaped her for the second time that day. Granted, this trickling paled in comparison to pervious exhaustive burst she'd displayed during her second match; but Naruto knew he hadn't been seeing things then and he surely hadn't mistaken that glimmer of crimson now. He'd wanted to detail the rest because that wasn't even _half _of what he'd seen, but Naruto didn't have time to play the role of the observer. Kakashi-sensei abruptly opted to remove the limb currently located around Naruto's jugular, breaking him from this moment of clarity and surprising both himself and Sakura as the blond dropped down. Landing safely on his butt, Naruto sat there, unable to account for such a sudden attack, rubbing at his sore tush, blinking the pain away.

"Ow." He muttered, too stunned for coherence. "That...kinda hurt, sensei."

_"Oh, you stupid baka!"_

The reply hadn't been Kakashi's.

Sakura _-green-eyed again- _bolted around Kakashi's attempt to restrain her movement, albeit they weren't quite so sudden as Naruto's. However, instead of leaping into the ring to save Sasuke, the first thing the Haruno did was to asses the immediate condition of Team Seven's most unpredictable knuckle-headed ninja. When Naruto mumbled something about his butt being numb, Sakura didn't strike him across the had as she'd often done, instead, she promptly grabbed Naruto in a bonecrushing embrace that_ -for Naruto- _must've lasted an eternity. In reality it persisted for all of five seconds before it was ruthlessly slaughtered at the hands of Kakashi and his loud "ahem" directed at the two genin.

Abruptly, Naruto and Sakura parted, the former still thawing from the frankness of her affections.

Then he remembered Sasuke.

"What the hell sensei!" Naruto began loudly. "You didn't have to-

"Keep the two of you from forfeiting your matches in the finals?" Kakashi's tone was pleasant, but the look in his eyes was diamond tough. "Actually_, I did." _Abashed, Naruto glanced aside, staring into the smoke of the two combatant's collison, wondering as the examiner bent to check Sasuke's vitals and waited. Naruto couldn't see Sasuke down there. He saw only Dosu. Sasuke would never, never lose to someonelike that? When the hell had that mummy-man gotten to be that freakishly fast? Had he just been holding back the entire time? And what the hell was that strange scent coming from him only a few minutes ago? see anything, excepted Dosu. Dosu, peering into

"Stay put." Kakashi held them both under the glare of his eyes_ -scary-_ before either student might say something they'd regret. "Both of you." He glanced from Naruto to Sakura, and back again, clearly distraught by the abrupt reversal in Sasuke's bout. Perhaps he was being too hard on them. "Naruto, if you'd gone down there you would have forfeited your match." He glanced askance at the not at all sullen Sakura. "The same would have applied for Sakura, had she been the one to interfere." Sensei made perfect sense, but Naruto didn't want to be sensible right now. Glowering, he pushed past Kakashi and returned to the rail, leaving Sakura to follow in his wake.

Kakashi resited the urge to question them further; it just didn't feel right.

"Oh hell no!" Naruto swore as the smoke cleared, revealing who was standing, and who, had fallen. "Sasuke! Get up! Get the f-

Thankfully, the ensuing explosion drowned out all the aforementioned expletitve given. Naruto gawped as he saw him fall. Kakashi-sensei had known what he'd do, and he'd acted to stop him before he did anything reckless. If he'd gone down there then it would have been over for him. He would have lost before he even started fighting, and for what? Sasuke was out cold now, laid flat upon the tile while Dosu walked away, his melody arm still ringing softly as he placed a hand upon the gleaming metal.

"To think...you would force me to take these things off." He murmurred, approaching the inert form of the Uchiha. "I didn't think I'd have to reveal my true form this early in the exam." Dosu wound the bandages back onto his face, concealing the burns that marred most of his neck and lower jaw. He had been badly damaged as well, but clearly, he was the last shinobi standing. Naruto watched and Naruto fumed as Dosu straightened out of the hunch, burned bandages loop around that face, he watched the flecks of blood fall upon a young visage that was surprisingly remorseful as Dosu beheld the now defeat form of Uchiha Sasuke.

"Eh?" He blinked slowly. "Wait a second...so...this Dosu guy... is actually-

"So that's what Dosu looked like?" Sakura blinked beside him. "Wow."

Dosu shuddered, the last of his gauze falling away, scarf hanging loose from his shoulders. Unraveled for all the genin to see, Dosu strode forward, the ground cratering beneath his feet. "Don't go and die on me now, Uchiha Sasuke." An unfamilair voice called through the smoke. "I've gone through all the trouble of emerging; surely you'll live to indulge me at another time, yes?" They fell away, made useless by the sudden chakra surge; left to spill down onto the ground around him.

Only it wasn't a he, beneath those wrappings and baggy cloth, as everyone had assumed.

"W-What the...?" Temari's eyes fluttered rapidly. "Wasn't he... just...

Lee blinked.

"Gai-sensei...is that allowed?"

Maito Guy sweatdropped.

"I...don't recall there being a rule against it."

"This is only the _second _time I've reverted to my true form."Dosu's brow furrowed darkly. "By forcing me into this state; by making me abandon the shell I've always worn, he sealed his fate." Dosu came stalking toward Sasuke's prostrate form. "You fought well, I'll give you that, but in the end, you were nothing." Dosu bent to a knee and placed one finger to the avengers neck, apparently trying to find some manner of a pulse.

"I-Isn't that enough?" Hinata stammered upon seeing that the Sound Shinobi intented to continue. "S-Sasuke-san is already u-unable to fight so-

"Cease your moaning and be silent." Dosu spoke flatly; unamused as a hand brushed across the bandages and exposed the other eye. "Because if you don't, you'll be standing there while I beat each and every last one of you and your friends within an inch of your lives, do you understand?"

Hinata cowered under the intense glare that stared upward at the remaining genin. Of the boys, only Naruto and Hyuuga Neji seemed unaffected by Dosu's strange shift of personality. Neji, of course, was unflapable, but Naruto could already feel the red chakra coming out as Dosu locked eyes with him; glancing deliberately toward Uchiha Sasuke seconds later.

"I did tell you we wouldn't run or hide when next we fought." Dosu reminded him.

She turned toward them.

Naruto took in large, amber eyes, perfectly coiffed hair, clear skin, full lips narrow waist, and lean, firm curves. Well that was what he could see, considering that she was wearing the bandages though they were cloth and wrapped round all the right places like a loose jacket. The transformation had left everyone stunned as did her appearance. These Sound Shinobi just got weirder and weirder with every moment, didn't they? This jacket was zipped up, bound around two protruding bumps at the chest that couldn't be mistaken for anything other than what they were. Dosu straightened and then the rest of that baggy jacket no longer seemed quite so loose as the globules pressed against the fabric.

Even the Sandaime appeared to be a loss for words, and the silence stretched on forever. Dosu crooked a finger toward the gauze and it refurled around her face, exposing only her mouth and eyes as opposed to the previous styling of the bandages. Complete, the tethers wound their way around what visible skin could be seen, and she was hidden again, though the crooked hunch no longer made Dosu appear to be as short as everyone had beleived.

"Are we done, then?" She folded her arms and prodded Sasuke with a toe. "I don't think he'll be getting back up after that."

Silver met sapphire as Naruto glared down;, one in amusment, the other in anger. Until his teammates decided to shatter it.

"What the fuck?" Zaku blinked rapidly. "Oi! Dosu! You didn't tell us you were a chick!" Dosu laughed; it was a deep, throaty sound. Nothing at all like the raspy hiss prior to this revelation. "My gender never seemed to be particularly relevant to either of you, so what does my true form even matter?" For a moment, Naruto was torn between anger and disbelief for a moment as he watched the three converse about this...rather odd topic.

"To think that these three actually tried to kill Sakura...sheesh."

Asuma shook his head in disbelief.

"Seems you were right, Shikamaru."

"Troublesome," The Nara mumbled. "Looks like he's a _she, _after all."

Dosu brushed a hand through her hair and sighed.

"That jutsu...was too much for you." Dosu exhaled softly and glared down at the inert Uchiha for a moment longer. "But you may sleep now, avenger. My quarrel is no longer to be had with you or your clan." Dosu turned him over, delicately assesing his injuries until someone finally had enough mental capacity to call for a medical team. Naruto willed himself to remain where he stood. The match might have ended, but he just couldn't bring himself to look away from Sasuke's battered body.

"Sasuke...

Naruto was thunderstruck.

Bleeding, from the eyes nose, and mouth, the Uchiha lay there as the medics rushed out to him. Dosu swept a hand through her hair, and spared Hayate a baleful glare. Thankfully the examiner was all too quick to realize what he'd just seen and waved for the screen to begin scrolling the remaining contenders. Dosu was already approaching the stairwell, eyes locked and leering at Orochimaru. Even under a disguise it was apparent that "sensei" was not pleased. Not pleased at all, when his subordinate made no effort to retrieve their discarded _hitiate._ Like Kin before her, Dosu didn't approach the Sand Shinobi and deliberately came to a slow stop near the Konoha faction, a message that the Otogakura leader understood, but one that Zaku, pondering why his two teammates were now halfway acrosss the balconies from him, did not.

_'I am not your tool any longer.' _Was the message, and poor Zaku was deafened to that signal.

Oh, the gesture smacked of defiance! Defiance that Orochimaru couldn't bear to tolerate, the disguised Sannin discreetly weaving hand seals, dissapeared in a plume of smoke. Dosu exhaled slowlyalready approaching the stairwell when a name was called, declaring the one who had triumped; naming the victor.

"Winner: Dosu Kinuta."

Naruto smiled mirthlessly.

"So...Sasuke lost."

Naruto froze, as a hand laid itself over, as Sakura turned her face upright, her eyes wide and awake. Naruto said nothing, though his face had to have betrayed him, because Sasuke wriggled. Pushing out of his grasp, she twisted herself upright and oh-so-subtly nudged him backward.

"O-Oi...Sakura-chan?"

"You don't have to protect me from everything, you know." Sakura said this, though she blushed.

"Eh?" Naruto blinked.

"I'm...actually glad he lost." Sakura admitted. "I'm not sure if I'd be able to fight him...myself." Naruto received a brief mental image of Sakura during her little "episode" and wondered if that were really true anymore. Now that, he would pay money to see. After he had a word with Dosu about the brutal beating he...erm...she had given Sasuke. A-Actually, perhaps it was better to let Sakura-chan take point on that assignment.

"We'll make chunin, won't we?" Sakura asked suddenly, plucking Naruto from his thoughts. She was looking out longingly at the other genin. "Naruto?"

"Of course we will!" _That, _Naruto believed with all his heart. He also believed, that Sakura wouldn't kiss him in public again. He was wrong about that one. For all of an instant, as he turned and tried to wriggle out of her grip, she nuzzled her nose into his cheek, planting a soft kiss there to drawn his attention. Kakashi glanced up from his book and sighed. Now, with Sasuke out of the finals, there be a much larger problem lurking ahead for him and his inseperable students.

How on earth was he going to train just _one _of them? He'd planned on teaching Sasuke the chidori...but now? He toyed with the idea for a moment longer before shrugging. With Naruto's chakra, he'd probably be able to punch right through the strongest of defenses with that technique. And apparently, he could at least use some fire element techinques. They'd focus on that, then. Maybe he'd even be able to push Anko and Kurenai on Sakura, give the girl some decent training without relying on that..."oddity" she'd displayed before.

_'I think I'm actually looking forward to this.'_ He mused to himself, flipping to the next page, sparing the pair another glance. Apparently Naruto had said something right for a change, because he'd never seen Sakura flush a brighter shade than that of her hair. Until now. He watched the two for a moment longer, before returning to his precious perverted orange book.

"You're really something, you know that?" Sakura sighed at Naruto. "Oh, don't make that face! I was complimenting you!" Naruto blinked a few times, wondering why on earth Sakura wanted him to be turning his head toward her right now, when the selection for the next match were about to begin! Briefly, he risked a glance toward Kakashi-sensei. But that involved turning his head toward Sakura, something she'd been waiting for, apparently.

So had Kyuubi.

**"Told you she'd be a good mate."** Its voice was immediately there as Sakura touched her lips to his for the second time, and kept them there. Naruto froze, his joints laden with frostbite and his skin numbed by the icy water he'd just plunged into._'Shut up, baka no kitsune!' _Almost immediately, their lips touched, to which he made a small sound of annoyance and confusion. He pulled away, _-had she any idea how difficult that was- and weakly raised his hands in protestation._

"Sakura-chan I really don't think this is the time for-_mmph!"_

Sakura tugged him back toward the wall until Naruto had nowhere left to stand, pulling at the lappels of his jacket. Naruto didn't move because his body was refusing to obey. There was no eager and desperate passion in this light and touching of the lips. Sakura was also trying to do something with her tongue that felt...nice. Naruto blinked multiple times, his face flashing into varying shades of red and pink colorations when she whimpered softly.

'Gah!'

**"Oh, so you like it when they whimper, huh? I never figured you for that kind of fetish, kit."**

_'D-D-Don't be stupid!' _Naruto would've shook his head, but that meant moving his lips from Sakura's. _'A-And stop giving me that kind of advice, baka!'_

**"Fine, fine. We'll save the sex ed. class for later...I suppose."**

Naruto was just starting to ignore Kyuubi and kinda-sort like this whole kissing in the shadows bit when Sakura pulled away.

"Gah...why do you keep doing that in public?" Naruto didn't really mind, but...sheesh! There was only so much of that they could do in a day! Sakura swatted him across the wrist playfully and smiled a smile that sent his already nervous heart slaming out of his chest. _Gods!_ Did she even know what she was doing to him? Did she have any idea how difficult it was to stand beside her and do just that, _stand _while her very prescence was so...so...

**"Touchable?"**

Naruto flushed.

_'I told you to can it, Kyuubi!'_

...you're missing it!"

"Huh?"

He blinked out of his reverie whe Sakura nudged him. "Look." She seemed to say with those emerald eyes of hers, gaze swiveling to the screen that had already been lit for quite some time. Naruto, to the amusement of Kakashi and all the jonin alike, gawped as he read the name there. Even was he'd finish reading, Akimichi Chouji yelped in surprise and pain. Naruto swiveled his gaze on the other combatant, just in time to see one Hinata Hyuuga ascending the steps and looking..._flushed?_

"So who won?"

Hinata must've had a have a fever or something, because she blushed when he asked her who'd won. She pushed her fingers togther for a few minutes before Naruto finally noticed the dazed body of a beaten but bulky Akimichi Chouji, covered in welts as though he'd been stung by a dozen bees. Sakura started giggling beside him, and Naruto couldn't bring himself to understand why. Well, he _tried _to ask her but the pinkette flew one hand to her face in order to stiffle the giggling fit she was currently , Sensei took pity on him and informed Naruto that Hinata had won. The thought occured to him that he should say "good jo" or something, at least.

Instead, when turned to congratulate her, like a fellow Leaf shinobi would, she shoved a jar of ointment at him. "H-Here!" Hinata stammered. "I...um...just wanted to give y-you this, Naruto-kun!" Wha, were those tears in her eyes? Naruto tried to accept the gift with his old over-enthusiastic response, but that didn't seem to work, for some reason. Maybe he should smile some more or at least show some kind of sincerity...ah!

"I Hope you kick butt in the matches!" Naruto beamed at her retreating backside and the gloom in her eyes seemed to lift, at that. "Don't expect me to lose to you, though!" Sakura scowled at him for a moment, before Naruto realized his words. Oops. He'd stuck his foot in it again. Frostily, Sakura reminded Hinata that some people needed to train really really hard to become strong. Naruto had the abrupt feeling he'd started a fan war when Hinata, being very much unlike her usual self, quipped that some people were born with more talent than they were beauty. From there he received the odd but familair impression hat this argument had something to do with him.

"What have I done? He bemoaned himself. "Hey, can't the two of you just get along-

"NO!" Both Kunoich simultaneously shouted the lbade user down.

Amidsts their bickering began, the seventh match was called. Naruto felt just a tiny bit better as the fifth match scrolled past.

**Temari vs Tenten**

"What have I done to deserve this?" Temari bemoaned herself. "Of course I'd fight a Konoaha shinobi. Huffing, she blew herself off the blacony and touched down upon the tiles. Tenten was already there to be waiting for her arrivakl.

Temare smiled.

"Alright then I'll just yous you as a punching bag...

And so the next match was started.

**A/n:**

**We have four matches to go then it is itime for the training! Speaking of which, heere are possible scenario/matchups for the remaining figerts**

**Hyuuga Neji vs Misumi Tsurugi.**

**Yoroi vs Rock Lee.**

**Shino vs Zaku.**

**Kankuro vs Kiba**

**A/N: C'mon really? We knew NOTHING about Dosu so I had to at least give a potential backstory until someone suggested what they suggested. Like I said, prelims end as of Next chappy and then...Well, suffice to say that Naruto and Sakura will become very strong, very fast, though not as fast as to put them on Kage level before the timeskip I mean, yikes! ****What were Shikamaru and Asuma talking about that has to do with Naruto and Dosu's new, odd, unexplained loyalty to him? Well now, that's why you'll read the next chapter then, neh? Anywho, you know how we do, Read, Rave, and Review! LOL! The prelims end as of next chapter and you know who we'll get to see after that...ERO-SENIN-SAMA! BWAHAHAHA!**


	6. Scouring

**A/N: Happy new year! This is my gift to all of you! The next chapter of Sound of Madness! XD R&R, oh, and please excuse any spelling errors! A little too much merriment going on on my end over here=D**

**Scouring**

Sakura blinked and it was over.

One moment Tenten had been standing across from Temari. The next, a giant gust of wind seized her body and hurled her into the wall with enough force to leave a small crater. A round of gasps went up from the remaining genin as the latter lay there, helpless to resist as a veritable hurricane tore and ripped at her frame, tearing the oxygen from her lungs and pummeling her into submission.

_Geez… these guys aren't playing around._

And then the winds died.

Deprived of the forces that once held here upright, Tenten crumpled forward into a boneless heap; but not before landing in the arms of Rock Lee. Indeed, the bushy-browed genin caught her at the very last instant, sparing his teammate what might have been an otherwise painful demise.

"Winner...Temari." Hayate announced.

The remaining bouts were equally swift, with the remaining member of Team Guy defeating their respsective opponents and Kabuto's teammates, Yoroi and Misumi. Each fell before the might and experience of these second-year genin. Likewise, Shino Aburame secured an overwhelming victory against Zaku Abumi. The sound shinobi was literally brought to his knees as his arms_-plugged with insects-_imploded and became ruined forever, leaving him with no means by which to continue.

**Kankuro vs Kiba**

And when the final match finally came about, Sakura found herself looking on with an emotion that bordered on indifference. The Leaf had already swept the exam, what did it matter who won this match now, one way or the other? Still, Sakura found herself hoping that Kiba would succeed; for the sake of pettiness if not loyalty to her village. She'd seen that suna-nin try and strangle Konohamaru, and, quite frankly, she wanted to see him pay.

Five seconds into the match, she got her wish.

Like greased lightning, the Inuzuka and his canine parter jolted forward, each of them launching themself into a deadly spiral of claws and fangs. Kankuro had only _just_ begun to reach for the bandaged burden upon his back when the duo hit him, the twin Gatsuga rending through the sand shinobi with such force that, were it not for the swifft response of the medics, he would not have lived to see the next sunrise.

"Winner...Inuzuka Kiba!"

Finally, the preliminaries had been brought to an end.

"Will all those who advanced to the third test please come down to the arena floor," Hayate said.

All of the genin that won their preliminary matches quickly made their way down from the stands. And as they did, Sakura felt the heated gaze of a certain Uchihia boring into her back. Sasuke. By advancing to the third and final portion of the exam, they were leaving him behind. It was a strange sentiment, considering how she'd once fawned and fussed over him every single second of every single day. Judging from Naruto's terse expression, her teammate likely felt the same way, but for different reasons. Sasuke had been his rival. A now sidelined rival who would be forced to watch as both his teammates were forced to abandon him, albeit temporarily.

Just for a little while.

With this, they were one step closer toward becoming a chunin. Both of them. Sakura should have been excited. So why did she feel so hollow then? Was it because of Sasuke and his sulking stare? Or was it perhaps that she feared what lay in store for them now, once they'd cleared the preliminaries. The fear of failure. Sasuke had been beaten, as easily as a child, at that. Who was to say that she and Naruto would fare any better?

"Well, with this, the preliminary round for the third test has been completed. Those of you that remain will get to compete in the third test. Lord Hokage, would you like to proceed?" Hayate said.

"Yes, I'd like to start explaining the actual third test now. As I told you before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everyone. Each of you will fight to represent the strength of your countries. I'd like you to show off all your powers with no reserves. That is why the finals will be held one month from now," Hiruzen said.

"Why are we waiting a month?" Naruto asked.

"This break will be for preparations. In addition to informing all the various country lords and shinobi leaders, this is the time needed to arrange for the gathering of the event. It is also the preparation time for the examinees. You can use this time to get to know more about your enemies and train. You can simply rest for the month if you want, but it is not recommended," Hiruzen said.

Sakura stole a glance toward Naruto.

"Before I can dismiss you, there are pieces of paper inside the box that Anko is holding. I want each one of you to take one piece from it." Hiruzen said.

"I'll come to you, so wait your turn." Anko said.

"You are currently drawing lots for the third test." Hiruzen said. "Now that you've all taken a piece, I would like you to tell us the number on your piece of paper starting from the left."

"I have seven," Naruto said.

"I have two," Hinata said.

"I have five," Shino Aburame said.

"I have six," Kiba said.

"I have one," Sakura said.

"I have four," Lee said.

"I have eight," Neji Hyuga said.

"I have nine," Temari said.

"I have three," Shikamaru Nara said.

"I have ten," Dosu said

"The first match will be Nara Shikamaru vs Temari. The second match will be Haruno Sakura vs Hyuuga Hinata. The third match will be Uzumaki Naruto vs Hyuuga Neji. The fourth match will be Shino Aburame vs Dosu Kinuta. The fifth match will be Rock Lee vs whomever passes the third match." Anko Mitarashi said as she held up a tournament bracket diagram to show the matches.

At the knowledge of who they would be facing, Sakura looked at Hinata carefully. She silently resolved not to take the gentle-fist user lightly. Not just as an opponent, but as a potential rival, as well. That she might have feelings for Naruto was out of the question! Absurd! Insane! Ridiculous! Someone like her...someone like her...didn't deserve to share the same room as him! How _dare_ she act all high and mighty as a Hyuuga!

"Are there any questions?" Hiruzen asked, oblivious to the heated conflict erupting just beyond his vision.

"Since it's a tournament, it would mean that there is only one winner, right?" Shikamaru asked, seeking to alleviate the tension. "Does that mean that _only_ one person can become a chunin?"

"No, that is not quite it. There will be judges to watch over the matches. The lords of various countries and I are among the judges. The judges will determine who has what it takes to become a chunin. You can lose your first match or even forfeit and still become a chunin. It is possible for everyone to make chunin, but it is also possible for none of you to make chunin. The farther you make it into the tournament, the more chances that you have to show to the judges whether or not you are worthy of the rank of chunin," Hiruzen said.

_So that's how it works,_ Sakura mused._ If we can make it past the first round, or leave a good impression, then it doesn't matter who wins! Still..._

When no one spoke, the Hokage said, "Thank you for all of the effort you have exerted thus far. You are all dismissed until one month from now." With that, everyone was left to their own devices. Some of the genin immediately met up with their sensei. Others milled about restlessly. Still others, such as Naruto, paid absolutely no heed to the Third or his warning in the slightest.

"So...only a month, huh?" Naruto asked, Sakura, his expression dour. "That doesn't sound like a lot of time."

"That's because it isn't." The Haruno replied, her once vibrant green eyes dimming as reality reasserted itself once more. _Damn._ If_-when-_she defeated Hinata, there was still a distinct possibility that she would be facing Naruto in the next round. The thought of facing her teammate now _now_ that feelings for him had begun to manfest shifted towards the realm of insanity. Not only that, but after what she'd witnessed against Gaara, she'd lost any desire she might have had for battle.

And then there was still the matter of whom Kakashi-sensei would actually train over the next month. He couldn't train the both of them, of course. That someone would likely be Naruto. Not her. Once sensei knew that Naruto _knew, _knew everything about the creature housed inside of him it was almost certain that he would train him so as to better control the beast within. That would leave Sakura to her own devices in the coming month, practically guaranteeing her defeat in the finals. Almost immediately upon realizing this, her thoughts began to drift, drifting towards the one Jounin who might be able to rescue her from her current predicament.

So intent was she on this thought, that when she bid Naruto farewell, she paid no heed to his call of concern. She might owe him her life, and she _might_ be falling for him, but for the next month, those feelings would have to be put on hold. The preliminaries were over. As of tomorrow, once she was rested, it would be time to train.

"I'll see you in a month, Naruto." She whispered softly, pausing ever so briefly, her lips grazing his cheek ever so softly. "Take care of yourself." With that, she forcibly pushed herself away and willed herself to walk toward the medic station_-and out of sight-_without looking back.

"Sakura!"

Naruto looked as though he wanted to say something more in that regard, but a hand settled upon his shoulder and prevented him from speaking. Startled, the blade wielder performed a sudden-about face to search for the one who had interrupted him. Imagine his surprise when he realized that it was not Sasuke, as he'd initially suspected. Nay, the Uchiha was nowhere to be found on a sudden, even when Naruto turned his gaze toward the one who'd prevented him from going off in search of him.

It was Kakashi.

"Going somewhere?"

"S-Sensei!"

"Come with me, Naruto," Kakashi said, doing his signature eye-smile. "Your training...begins in the next hour."

"But Sakura...

"I've already worked out something for her." The legendary copy-cat reassured his student. "But right now, I need to focus on preparing you for next month."

And thus, his training began.

**A/N: And so the training begins! MWAHAHAHA! What kind of masterful jutsu will Naruto and Sakura learn over the next month? What new techniques will they have perfected once they meet again in the Final Exam? One can only guess...or read the next chapter to find out! Don't forget to review! Because the Legendary Ero-Senin will finally surface as of next chappy, so pleaaaaaase review? Sorry if it is short! The next one will be signficantly longer! Who will train Sakura? Who is this mysterious shinobi from whom she seeks aid?**

**Happy New year!**

**Next time: Searing training in the hot springs! Enter the Legendary Toad Hermit...JIRAIYA!**


	7. Searing II

**A/N: MWAHAHAHA! I officially luv this story! The characters have truly progressed in ways that I had not even considered, branching out both literally and figuratively as well as emotionally. Amazing what a simple act of kindness can do, no? Now, for those of you who still want Jiraiya to train Naruto, you need not worry. I have plaaaaaans for that wilely old hermit and they involve a lot of laughter and training on Naruto's part XD**

_"But he that dares not grasp the thorn, Should never crave the rose."_

___Anne Bronte_~

**Searing**

Mitarashi Anko couldn't believe her eyes, nor her ears.

"What did you just say?"

Moments ago, she'd been in the midst of treating herself to her favorite dish. Dango and Sake. A well deserved reward in her opinion, after what she'd been made to endure during the second half of the exam. She'd tried to drive the warning of her former sensei from her mind. _Don't cancel the Exams._ And the Sandaime hadn't. The Chunin Exams would proceed as scheduled, albeit without Suna's key player, Sabaku no Gaara. To think, someone like that had been eliminated by their very own village pariah! And what's more, the kid had _that bloodline..._the same one that had _supposedly_ died with Kushina.

The boy was just full of surprises!

And now, Mitarashi Anko faced her final surprise of the day.

"Please train me!"

Prostrating herself before her like a groveling servant, Haruno Sakura pleaed with the Special Jounin. Briefly, she sized up her would-be apprentice. Petite, with emerald green eyes and absurdly pink hair, and skinny as a twig. Yup, typical Haruno. But _this_ Haruno went berserk during the prelims and obliterated Yamanaka Ino with a single punch. A single punch! Anko hadn't seen _that_ since she'd made chunin. After all, _she'd_ been the one to do it. From what Kakashi told her, this girl also had traces of the Kyuubi's chakra in her veins; a feat relatively unheard of, considering it _hadn't_ been there before the exam. When he'd told her, the news nearly knocked her from her feet. Was the fourth's seal weakening? Was the fox retroactively seeking a new host, or was this a side-effect of some other means that she knew nothing about?

Nevertheless, Anko felf a strange sort of kinship with her; with this young kunoichi willing to lay down her pride and ask for her help. Surely she could spare a month. Oh, and the things she could teach her within that month! To begin with, the girl had little to no sex appeal. A week under the Special Jounin's wing would surely change _that_ and then some. There was also the matter of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu, with the former and latter being all but nonexistent...

"Alright." The word snuck past her lips, escaping before she could take them back. Sakura froze. Then her eyes grew wide and bright. Anko mentally slapped herself upon the head and silently bemoaned her actions. She'd just planted a seed of hope in the girl's heart. Who was she then, to extinguish it? Might as well nuture it and hope for the best possible outcome. Hell, she might as well go all in and teach the kid the Kuchiyose no Jutsu while she was at it.

_'Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this?' _Anko mulled this over as she awaited Sakura's inevitable reaction. _'If she really does have the Kyuubi's chakra in those veins, then this could go very south, very quickly...assuming Kakashi doesn't kill me for stealing one of his students.' _She mused it for a moment longer, weighing pros against the cons before coming to her decision.

"Oi...gaki." she began slowly. _"Why_ do you want me to train you? "

Sakura paused, taken aback by her sempai's question.

"Why?" She repeated the question unto herself. "Because I want to get stronger for the exams-

"WRONG!" Anko bellowed, alarming several of the bar's patrons. "Give me another answer. The right one this time!" Her neck throbbed violently against this sudden outburst, causing the Special Jounin to gnash her teeth as she awaited Sakura's response. She watched her words wash over the genin, whiping away her hesitation and indecision. The fear was gone now, replaced by the determined kunoichi lurking beneath it.

"I have to become strong." Sakura began slowly. "Not just for myself but for others. For the people that are precious to me." She nearly said "and for Naruto" but managed to bite back her words at the last instant. She wasn't quite ready to announce that to the world just yet; that she wanted to become stronger for his sake, as well as her own. He had always been the one protecting her, and now, it was her turn to protect him. No longer would she sit on the sidelines and watch her teammates fight alone. Her weakness had nearly cost them their lives in the Forest of Death. Her powerlessness had gnawed a hole straight through her heart, leaving her feeling empty inside. _Hollow._ Naruto had plugged that hole as best he could, but it still remained. She'd been weak. Petty. Selfish. She'd fussed and fawned over Sasuke without giving any thought to training, and so what if she hurt Naruto in the process? She'd treated him like trash, when he was so much more.

All this time, he'd cared. Despite the insults and the beatings and everything she'd done to him, he'd still cared. And still, he saved her life! The very thought of it made her cheeks burn. Now that Sakura knew, now that she knew of the terrible creature inside of him, now that she knew the sacrifice he'd made, that he continued to make everyday, she was determined to undo all of the damage she'd done to him.

Starting now.

Now, she'd fallen so far behind that she couldn't even begin to bridge the gap between them. But what hurt the most was the knowing. Knowing that she'd once thought herself to be his equal._ His better. _She'd been so incredibly cruel to him, and she would have to live with that knowledge for the rest of her life_._ But she wasn't that weak, selfish, little girl. Not anymore. She was a kunoichi. And that, was why Sakura had come to Mitarashi Anko.

Sakura was determined to re-invent herself. And for that, for Naruto, she was willing to risk anything.

"Will you...teach me?" said the kunoichi, with the voice of a child asking for a third piece of candy. "Please?"

Anko's mouth was a thin line, but she nodded all the same.

"Kid...welcome to boot camp."

* * *

_(Meanwhile, in Naruto's Apartment)_

The harsh _tap-tap-tap_ against the door to his apartment roused Naruto from his slumber. Groaning, he flopped from his bed, stealing a glance at his alarm clock. It read Six A.M. Despite himself, Naruto growled. What could anyone possibly want with him at this hour? Kakashi-sensei wasn't due for at least another three hours, which meant he'd had at least seven more to rest his body. Before someone had woken him up!

Naruto had slept fitfully at best, his dreams haunted by the faces of the dead, and those he had defeated. The fox had been, too. The beast had laughed at him, called him a failure, a weakling, saying that he'd never become Hokage. He'd never be able to make proper use of his bloodline. Not without _his_ help. And then, just as Naruto had begun to waver, just as he'd reached for the seal...

The incessant tapping at his door jarred the blond from his reverie.

"Coming!" The blond groused, wincing as he stumbled across his room. His feet were still killing him after yesterday. Apparently Kakashi-sensei's idea of _training_ had been to make him chakra-climb trees until his legs gave. It was meant to assess the limits of his chakra control, he'd said. Chakra control his ass! Naruto secretly suspected that he'd just been given the runaround while his baka of a sensei read that stupid book of his. He was supposed to be training, damnit! Not wasting his time climbing trees! He already knew how to do that!

What's more, his sensei seemed to have dismissed his new ability entirely. He didn't _care_ that Naruto could pull weapons and craft weapons from within his flesh. All he cared about was blasted chakra control! The only real training they done had been at the end of the day, and that had been to determine his elemental affinity...

_(Flasbhack)_

"What's an affinity?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded.

Kakashi sighed and removed a small square piece of paper from his flak jacket at that point. "An affinity… it just means that everyone is a little better with one specific element. For me, that's lightning. For Zabuza, that was water."

"How do I find out what mine is?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kakashi held up the square of paper and cleared his throat. "This paper is made from a special type of tree that is grown and nurtured with chakra. It is because of this special process that the paper reacts strongly to even the slightest hint of chakra. The way that it reacts will tell you what your affinity is," Kakashi explained. "If your affinity is for fire, the paper will ignite and turn to ash. If it's wind, the paper will split in two. If it's lightning, the paper will wrinkle. If it's earth, the paper will turn to dirt and crumble away. Finally, if it's water, the paper will become wet."

The instant that Naruto touched the paper, one half split from the other. The remaing half crinkled in his hand and blew away with the winds.

"It seems that you have two elemental affinities." Kakashi mused. "Lightning and Wind. That's a bit of a double edged sword." When he saw his student's evident confusion he chose to continue, "Naruto, Lightning and Wind are polar opposites of one another. For you to have an affinity toward _both_ of them is unheard of. He made no mention of the rare bloodline that could be formed from the unison of these two elements. It was already strange enough that the boy had Kushina's bloodline coursing through his veins, not to mention the fact that he could pull weapons from his very flesh. In a sense his bloodline mirrored that of a Kaguya's, albeit sleaker and far deadlier than anything he'd ever encountered before.

_'Naruto...with proper training, you really might become the Hokage someday.'_

"So that means I can learn the Raikiri?" Naruto grinned, ruining the epic moment.

Kakashi sweatdropped.

"Yes, Naruto. You _should_ be able to learn the Raikiri. At least in theory."

_(End Flashback)_

And he still hadn't taught him the Raikiri!

_Tap-Tap-Tap!_

"I said I'm coming!" Naruto hollered, irate that his mentor was squandering his potential _and_ that someone had seen fit to haul him out of bed at such an early hour. Fumbling with the knob, Naruto wrested the door open and glared bloody red daggers at the offender.

"What do you..._want?"_

A single eye stared back at him.

The thought sparked something in him; the faintest of tingling sensations, and of remembrance. Who was it that had eyes like that, again? For a moment, shock numbed him; for a moment, he couldn't believe his eyes nor his ears, nor any of his other senses, all of which were screaming at him, insisting that this was, in fact his sensei.

Naruto didnt think this was real.

It couldn't be real. He couldn't believe his eyes, nor his ears. He wasn't supposed to be here. Not for another three hours. Which could only mean one thing. _He was early._ The knowledged shook him to his core. Kakashi was never early. _Ever._ He was always, always, _always_ late. That he was here now could only mean that he was truly serious about training him.

"Yo, Naruto." The Jounin_-without his evil orange book!-_raised a hand in greeting. "Ready to get started?"

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto gawped, blinking through sleep-gummed eyes. "You're...you're early!"

"Am I?" Kakashi said, doing his signature eye-smile. "Should I come back later, then-

By the time he looked down, Naruto was already dressed.

"Ready when you are!"

* * *

_(Hyuuga Compound)_

The sun cast a glow over the eastern sky, waking the Hyuuga Compound to another day.

Within its deep, luscious gardens, Hinata was studying some scrolls she'd found that night that might make or break her in her fight against Sakura in the finals. This was, after all, her big chance to look good in front of the boy she loved, and she didn't want to screw up. This particular scroll was older than the others and worn from years of neglect. In it contained several moves that hadn't been used in over a hundred years. For some reason, these moves appealed to her more than the regular moves that her father and the other Hyuga members used. These moves were more elegant, artful, and focused primarily on chakra form and manipulation. All she needed was to train. Unfortunately, Hyuuga Hinata was having little luck in that regard.

Not only had her father _declined _to train his daughter_-forsaking her instead in favor of Neji-_but she couldn't seem to find Kurenai-sensei anywhere. Kiba was still hospitalized, and Shino had his own match to prepare for. As disheartening as that realization might be, Hinata was content. With these, she'd be able to defeat Sakura in a month. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully? She felt her confidence begin to wane as the scroll's description grew increasingly complicated. These techiniques...required a phenomenal amount of only the _purest_ of pure chakra. Hinata doubted her own reservoirs were up to par for such standards, but she pressed on nonetheless. She had to. She must.

_'I won't lose to Sakura-san.'_ The Hyuuga swore heiress swore to herself as she redoubled her efforts to decipher the ancient text. "I absolutely will not lose to her."

"Is that a promise, Hinata?"

Hinata squeaked, flushing as her name was spoken, inches from her ear. She fumbled with the scrolls for a moment, nearly dropping them in her haste to turn around. When she finally did, she found herself face to face with the one shinobi whom she had been searching for.

"K-Kurenai-sensei!" Hinata spluttered in surprise, her eyes widening when she realized that Shino was not by her side. "Where is Shino-kun...

"Shino's father will be training him for the finals." There was a strange twinkle in the ruby red orbs that were the eyes of her sensei. "Coincidentally that leaves me without a student to train _and_ seeing as I don't have any missions for the remainder of the month...

Hinata's eyes shone with hope.

"W-Would _you_ be willing to train _me,_ sensei?"

Kurenai smiled.

"And just _why_ is it that you want to train, Hinata?"

Hinata's face darkened. Blushing, she turned away from her sensei. Then she took a deep breath and began,

"I want to become stronger for Naruto-kun." She said softly." I want him to notice me. I want the strength to tell him how I really feel about him. I want to prove to my clan that I'm worthy of being their heiress, and not Hanabi. "

Kurenai arched a slender brow as her student finished.

"That's quite the agenda, Hinata."

"S-So...will you train me, sensei?"

Kurenai's only response was to smile.

* * *

_(Konoha Hot Springs)_

The sun had only just begun its glorious red-hazed ascent, and still, Kakashi and Naruto moved deeper into the hot springs. The streets were deserted, but as they drew closer to the hot springs Naruto _swore_ he heard someone giggle. He slowed, craning his head for any sign of life. Save for himself and Kakashi, there were none to be found. Perhaps he was hearing things. were utterlyhe was he

"Today we're going to try something new." announced Kakashi as he steered his student dangerously close to where the woman's bath should be. Naruto couldn't help but to wonder if his sensei had actually brought him here to _train._ He'd probably come here to peep! Though that didn't sound at all like his sensei, Naruto kept his own counsel. _He_ would never peep on anyone_-especially not Sakura!-_but Kakashi-sensei _was_ always reading that perverted book of his...

"Is something the matter?" Kakashi asked, noticing that his student had tarried just over the bridge that led towards the women's bath. Naruto squinted at his sensei for what felt like an eternity before he finally decided to follow him. Pervert or not, he needed to train! He just hoped that no one was around. The last thing he wanted was to be beaten to death by a horde of angry women before he ever set foot in the arena.

"Not a thing." Naruto said instead, hesitating but a moment before following him into it himself. "So what's next sensei? Are you going to teach me an amazing jutsu today?"

Kakashi's smile didn't waver as he responded, "Nope." he replied cheerfully. Naruto's smile disappeared and he frowned but was soon back to smiling as he continued bouncing on his toes in anticipation, though he was dissapointed, at least he would be learning something today. Anything was better than tree-climbing.

"Today...we are going to focus on chakra control."

"More chakra control?" Naruto groaned. "Sensei...do we _have_ to? I've already done this thing to death!"

"Say that _after_ you've seen this." Kakashi kept walking...right out onto the water. "The next level of chakra control is to walk on water. In this exercise, a person simply lets out a steady stream of chakra from his or her feet and walk on the water like a person does on stilts." Seeing the confused look on Naruto's face, Kakashi stepped back, and began to walk around.

"See? It's as simple as that."

"Wow!"

Naruto felt his jaw drop, but recovered and folded his arms all the same. Walking on water _was_ cool, but what good would that do him in the finals? They were going to be in a arena, not the ocean! Even _he_ knew that this wasn't going to benefit him, at least not in the short term. In the long run, perhaps, but in the Chunin Exams? He didn't think so.

"That's nice...but its kinda like the tree climbing exercise." He grumbled, trying not to show his awe. "I don't see what's so important about _that."_

"I'll tell you what." Kakashi said, doing his signature eye-smile. "If you can manage the watering walking justu after only three tries...then I'll teach you the Lightning Blade."

Naruto's eyes widened at that prospect moments before he sprung in action.

"Really?"

_"Really."_

"Yosh!" Naruto slapped his cheeks. "I'll have that jutsu down on the first try! Just you wait and see!"

"We'll see."

"We will!" Naruto enthused, stalking towards the springs with a feral gleam in his eye. "Watch this!"

Naruto eyed the scalding hot water dubiously and with much trepidation. He tried to imagine what would happen if he were unfortunate enough to fall in. Steeling himself, he began channeling chakra to his feet, and, when he was certain he'd gathered the necessary amount, stepped out onto the surface of the water. He sank like a stone. Boiling, water flooded his throat, choking on with the realization that he'd he'd failed his first attempt.

He bolted towards daylight with a startled yelp.

"HOT!"

"Strike one." Kakashi chimed in from the sidelines.

"Th-That one didn't count!" Naruto swore as he dragged himself onto dry land. "One more! I'll get it right this time!" Forcing chakra into the soles of his sandals once more he gingerly laid a foot onto the water. Much to his delight, it stuck. _Ha! This is easy!_ Thinking he had succeeded, Naruto took another step forward. Scalding water assaulted both his eyes and his nose as he sank to the bottom in a pitch of bubbles.

_"YEOW!" _

"Strike two." Came the reminder as Naruto crawled out onto the bank.

"Damnit!"

Naruto sat down, folded his arms and sulked. Why was this so hard? He was doing _exactly_ what Kakashi told him to do! Maybe he was putting out too much chakra? No, that wasn't it. Something felt off. When he tried to mold the chakra, it felt like something was resisting him. The water of course, but it seemed like something...else. He could not put his finger on it, but he knew something was wrong.

**"It's that blasted Five Element Seal Orochimaru put on you!" **

Naruto nearly pitched forward into the hot springs, such was his surprise. Kyuubi rarely spoke to him, but when it did, it was often to taunt or impart pieces of its wisdom. This was the latter. He stole a glance at Kakashi, and, when the jounin didn't sense anything out of the ordinary, turned his attention inward. The fox leered at him from beyond its cage, waiting for him as though it expected him to draw within striking distance of its chakra. Naruto didn't even blink. After his first audience with the bijuu in the Forest of Death, he'd come to accept that his tennant could and would, at times, prove to be beneficial. When it wasn't mocking him for his ineptitude and trying to take over his body, it was almost tolerable.

_Haven't heard from you in a while, bastard fox. _Naruto pretended to gather himself as Kakashi looked on._ So anyway, this seal thing, that's what's messing up our chakra?_

**_"Your_ chakra!"** The kitsune snarled. **"Mine is not affect by such a puny implement as this!"**

_Well, then fix it already!_ Naruto snapped back. _I want to learn the Raikiri and I can't learn **that **until I learn to walk on water!_

A grimace of self-castigation from his tenant.

_What, you can't fix it? _Naruto pressed fearlessly._ Jeez. Some demon you are._

**"Do you think I have not tried, foolish boy!"** Came the reply.**"And besides, were I to do so it would doubtlessly affect your mate as well, as some of my chakra still lingers within her coils."** The Lord of Foxes dubiously ignored the subsuquent shriek that Sakura was _not_ his mate by any means. "**I cannot predict what changes it and the unsealing might invoke within her body, either. Now, I am going to force my chakra through your veins. ****Short of someone unsealing it for us, this is the only way I can think to undo the Five Element Seal, or at the very least loosen it. Brace yourself."**

Naruto gulped.

_W-What kind of changes are we talking about? _The silence was deafening._ Oi! Bastard fox! Answer me! What's going to happen to Sakura if you break this seal! _He would have said more, were it not for the sudden lance of agony inside his stomach. Naruto felt as if he'd been stabbed. His eyes bulged and his mouth worked wordlessly. It felt as if he'd been roasted alive and then set ablaze all over again. And then, as quickly as the agony had begun, it subsided. His pain, once prominent in his mind, simply vanished, leaving Naruto to wonder what had happened as the aches and pains faded to nothingness. Had the same thing happened to Sakura, wherever she was? He hoped not.

_What, that's it?_

**"Silence!"** The fox roared! **"I have done all that I can. Now, resume your training and leave me to my slumber!" **With that, Naruto felt his tennant withdraw. He held his breath, but nothing happened. He didn't _feel_ all that different. Had the bastard fox really done anything at all? There was only one way to find out.

Steeling himself, Naruto stepped out across the water once more.

"Whoa!"

Kakashi dared open an eye. He half expected to find Naruto, sopping wet. Instead, he found himself pleasantly surprised.

"Well, I'll be damned...

He was wobbling, and swaying, barely maintaining his balance, but as the seconds edged by he began to regain his composure. His arms stopped pinwheeling once he realized he wasn't going to fall, stiffening so as to better distribute his weight. His jaw fell slack. Though the water rippled beneath his feet, Uzumaki Naruto did not waver. He did not fall. He did not sink.

Naruto was walking on water.

"I did it!" He cried, jumping in place to kick his heels against one another. "Look, sensei! I did it! Yatta!"

Everything was going fine until Naruto saw something that made him lose his concentration. There was a man with long white hair peaking on the girl's side of the hot spring. Naruto blinked, then suddenly, he was submerged once more. With a cry that could wake the dead, the blond charged out of the water to confront the pervert. How _dare_ he interrupt his training! How dare he peek, for that matter!

"Hey old man," yelled Naruto. "What the hell are you doing!"

"What does it look like kid," said the man without turning around. "I'm doing some research for my next book."

"What kind of book requires you to look at naked women," demanded Naruto. The man simply reached in his back pocket and pulled out an orange book. He then tossed it to Naruto without turning around. Naruto went to reach for it, but before he could, Kakashi snatched it away.

"I'll be taking that if you don't mind, thank you." The now grinning Jonin swiftly pocketed the novel before Naruto could say otherwise. "Now that we're all here, I'd like you to meet the man who trained the Yondaime. Naruto's heart nearly stopped right then and there. The man who'd trained the fourth? He was here? Right here? _In this village?_ The Frantically he scanned his surroundings, but found nothing. Just him, Kakashi-sensei, and the pervert.

"I don't seen anyone...

Kakashi pointed toward the pervert.

"I give you the great Jiraiya-sama, of the Sanin."

"Who?" Naruto blinked. "All I see is a pervert."

"Excuse me!" The hermit_-pervert!-_spun around and glowered at them, his painted face twisted into a rictus of fury. "I am no mere pervert! I am Myouboku Mountain's Monk of the frog spirits! Also known as the frog hermit! Jiraiya the Gallant!" That he did all of this while striking a ridiculous pose only made it all the more ridiculous." Naruto threw up a harsh laugh of disbelief. Kakashi respectfully inclined his head, humoring the man and his posturing.

"Naruto, _this_ is the man who trained the fourth hokage."

"Keep it down, Kakashi!" The white-haired hermit hissed. "I don't want the old man to know I'm here!" His face scrunched up at that. "Come to think of it, how did you know I would be here, anyway? I've been avoiding the Third for months now."

Naruto gawped.

"Hold it! You mean this peeping tom is actually the one who trained the fourth! He was peeking on the ladies bath just now! How can I respect _that,_ huh!"

A series of loud, feminine shrieks echoed on from the other side of the bathouse, followed by the sound of bare feet slapping against the rocks. Jiraiya took one look over his shoulder and promptly burst into tears upon realizing that all the lovely ladies had fled. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! Now look what you've done! You've gone and driven them all away! How are you going to compensate me for this, Kakashi!"

"It serves you right for peeping, you perverted hermit!" Naruto laughed, ignoring the hermit's intense ire. "Ero-sennin! Ha! That's what I'm going to call you!"

Thankfully, Kakashi was there to mollify them.

"Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi whispered conspirationally, "Anko and Kurenai-san use the hotsprings everyday at noon. Would that be reward enough for you?" Naruto didn't hear a word of what had they'd said, but he did see that the Toad Hermit was now drooling and nodding emphatically. He completely missed the part about him sharing his mother's bloodline_-one of the many talents of being an Uzumaki-_as well as possessing an ultra-rare nature kekkai genkai.

"Very well!" Jiraiya declared loudly and suddenly, startling Naruto. "C'mere, gaki! Let me have a look at you." Warily, Naruto approached the hermit. He could feel the scrutiny of the older man upon him as Jiraiya squinted down at him. After what felt like an eternity, the Toad Sage mumbled something to Kakashi.

"He's a bit short, Kakashi." Jiraiya muttered. "Are you _sure_ he's Minato's kid?"

"You'll see for yourself once we get started." Kakashi reassured the legendary sannin. "But for now, I'd like you to take a look at his seal."

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, nothing!" Jiraiya laughed boisterously. "Just discussing the basics of your training, my boy! Yes, training!" That was enough to placate the genin and make him forget all about their mysterious conversation.

"Naruto, take off your shirt and begin molding chakra." Kakashi instructed. Naruto complied, removing his shirt and exposing his stomach before placing his hands in the seal of the ram to mold chakra. He could feel the two men staring at him, and quite frankly, it was making him uncomfortable.

"Wait a second. Why am I-

Jiraiya grinned suddenly.

**"Five Pronged Seal Release!"**

Naruto flew.

Literally.

Jiraiya spun around quickly, slamming a plated arm into Naruto's body. With a surprised grunt, the startled genin went flying down the river, a trail of dark blood following his body through this failed attempt to endure the blow. Numbed by the sheer strength of the blow, he plummeted to the water and drove beneath its surface like a splinter. The pain wasn't nearly half as bad as he expected and, had the water not been so suffocatingly hot, Naruto would have been just fine.

Gasping and choking and spluttering, the gening broke the surface of the water and made for the bank once more. He'd been struck with such speed and force he hadn't been able to tell what it was, exactly. Rather, he wouldn't have, had not he heard the amused whisper of the demon within him.

**"It seems that blasted fool was good for something after all...**

"What the hell was that for!" Naruto gagged, coughing up a bloody wad as he climbed out, doing his best to ignore the ice in his veins. "You could have killed me!"

"Just loosening some pressure points." Jiraiya lied.

Unknowing of the doom he'd just bestowed upon one Sakura Haruno.

**A/N: What do you get when you cross a Rasengan and Raikiri? Anyone know? Anyone at all? Well let me know! Because, as things stand, Naruto may very well learn both at this rate! Man, be trained by his sensei AND his godfather! He's gonna be hella STRONG once the finals roll round! And what of Sakura? What does this unsealing of Naruto's chakra mean for her and will she triumph over Hinata in the finals or will the Hyuuga emerge triumphant? **

**Stay Tuned For The Next Chapter!**

**R&R! =D**

**Now, as a belated christmas present, here is a preview (A LOOOONG one) Of what we'll see in the next chapter:**

* * *

"Why don't you try it again, Naruto?" Kakashi suggested.

"Alright...

Naruto performed the seals as instructed, careful to modulate the neccessary amount of chakra this time. He clasped his wrist, bracing himself once more against a potentially painful_-and lethal-_backlash of energy. He felt the energy build in his arm and flow into his fingertips, seeking release. Sparks splayed across his wrist and gathered in his palm as he struggled to maintain the balance.

Then came the chirping.

It started softly at first, the faintest of cries as the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. Then it began to build. His hair standing on end, Naruto began to feel it; the chakra in his veins changing, channeling into raw energy as it gathered against his hand. Before he knew it, one thousand birds were chirping around his ears. He squinted through that terrible brilliance, seeking the source of the sudden racket, and he found it.

There, clenched with the fingers of his fist, gleaming a small flare, was the Chidori.

Naruto grinned ferociously.

_"Alright!"_

* * *

Jiraiya scratched at the back of his head.

Laying there in the gorge was a giant toad.

"Well now, I didn't expect him to beat you, Bunta-san."

"Hmph!" The Toad Boss harrumphed. "The brat got lucky!"

* * *

Jiraiya grinned.

"This is a jutsu that took the Yondaime _three years_ to master." Jiraiya stated sagely.

Naruto held out his right palm and began to channel chakra into it with his left. Focus. Rotation. Force. He channeled all these elements into the palm of his hand, honing the chakra within as it took shape.

It was the Rasengan.

* * *

Naruto actually laughed at that point. "The training that my senseis' had planned for me only took a week to master. What I learned the three weeks after that; that's going to knock your socks off."

Naruto grinned.

"Rasgengan...Raikiri...

"When the two techniques of my sensei become one...then an even greater jutsu is formed!"

**The ultimate jutsu!**


	8. The Coming Storm

**A/N: MWAHAHAHA! I officially luv this story! The characters have truly progressed in ways that I had not even considered, branching out both literally and figuratively as well as emotionally. Amazing what a simple act of kindness can do, no? Now, for those of you who still want Jiraiya to train Naruto, you need not worry. I have plaaaans for that wilely old hermit and they involve a lot of laughter and training on Naruto's part XD But putting that aside, I've been away from this story for far too long, as I'm sure you have, dear reader. On that note, I'd reccommend going back and rereading everything from the beginning, just so we're reaquainted. And with that...**

**...away we go!**

_"Are you really that dense, gaki? Do you not _see _those two pining after you?!"_

_~Jiraiya._

**The Coming Storm**

Sakura was in agony.

Complete and utter, mindblowing agony. She would have said more, might've given better phrase to the excruciating _pain_ she was experiencing, were it not for the lance of agony inside her stomach! The kunoichi felt as if she'd been stabbed. Her eyes bulged and her mouth worked wordlessly. It felt as if she'd been roasted alive and then set ablaze all over again. Her legs buckled and she pitched forward onto her hands and knees, stifling her screams in the warmth of her pillow. Her solesolace was the fact that she was still in her room; her parents would've lost their minds if they saw their only daughter bucking and writhing in pain.

How was this happening? Surely this pain couldn't be from Anko's training; her new sensei had only trained her for one day and even then the most they'd done was practice chakra control. So why was she suffering so much pain then?!

Little did she know, the alteration Jiraiya had been made to Naruto's seal was the cause of her pain. They were linked by his tenant's chakra; what happened to one happened to the other. And the releasing of the Five-Pronged Seal had altered the chakra inside her, suppressed until this very instant, and released it, leaving it to sear through her coils...like a thing alive. Strengthening her. Empowering her. She would emerge stronger, from this inner transformation...if she survived it.

"This won't beat me." the words rose up deep inside her, stifling all else. "It...won't...

Sakura clutched her stomach in pain and tried to stand; only to drop to the ground in a heap. The seal started glowing again as more pain went through her body. She tried waiting until the seal stopped glowing to rise from her pained crouch, but to no avail. Instead, Sakura continued to roll around in pain. Blood started leaking from her mouth creating small splotches of crimson on the otherwise pristine white of her sheets.

_'Not like this.'_

It felt like someone had poured acid inside her skull. And it hurt. Oh, it hurt so much. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to breathe, struggled to fight against this excriuciating agony consuming the frayed strands of her conciousness; struggled to survive despite the overwhelming blackness blotting out her vision. Was this it then? Was she going to die? Was she going to perish without telling him how she felt? Would she simply fade away, with no one to remember her by?

_Not like this!_

And then, as quickly as the agony had begun, it subsided. The pain, once so prominent in her mind, simply vanished, leaving Sakura to wonder if it had ever been there at all. Slowly, tentatively, she rose from the bed, muscles stiff and sore, skin tingling, every inch. There was a subtle grace to her movements, one that hadn't been there before. She felt different. Changed. Almost unwilling, she risked a glance at herself in the nearby bedroom mirror, jade eyes creaking open with a hesitance she wasn't sure she felt. What she saw there took her breath away...in a good way.

"What the...?!"

Had the same thing happened to Naruto wherever he was? She hoped not!

* * *

_"Achoo!"_

"Heh," Jiraiya chuckled as the blonde scrubbed at the back of his nose. "That girl of yours must be thinking about you, gaki."

_'If we were still in the hot springs...I'd throw his smug ass in the water!'_

Sputtering something about old men and their perversions, the blonde picked himself back up, battered knees scraping the grassof the training grounds. His orange jumpsuit stood in tatters, his sleeve all but charred to nothingess on his right arm. Burn marks lined the length of that limb-yet another sign of his failure to utilize the chidori-even the ground itself was riddled with scars further contributing to his countless attempts and all too numerous failures.

"Why don't you try it again, Naruto?" Kakashi suggested, attempting mollifying his student. "They say the twentieth time is the charm." He succeeded.

"Alright...

Naruto performed the seals as instructed, careful to modulate the neccessary amount of chakra this time. He clasped his wrist, bracing himself once more against a potentially painful_-and potentially lethal-_backlashes of energy. He felt them building up in his arm even now, flowing into his fingertips, seeking release. Wary, he granted it. The result was almost instantaneous Sparks splayed across his wrist and erupted in his palms as he struggled to maintain the balance, gathering there

Then came the chirping.

It started softly at first, the faintest of cries as the hairs on the back of his neck bristled. Then it began to build. His hair standing on end, Naruto began to feel it; the chakra in his veins changing, charging, channeling into raw energy as it gathered against his hand. Before he knew it, one thousand birds were chirping around his ears. He squinted through that terrible brilliance, seeking the source of the sudden racket, and he found it right before his very eyes, careful not to be distracted this time.

There, clenched with the fingers of his fist, gleaming a small flare, was the Chidori.

"Alright!" Naruto's triumphant shout sent birds shrieking from their perches. "Finally got this damned thing to work!"

"Yeah," Jiraiya quipped dryly. "It only took you twenty-one tries...

The boy growled.

_"Semantics!"_

"Hai, hai, that's very good." Kakashi congratulated, soothing the pair. "Now, Naruto, try hitting the armed target over there." He inicated the wooden dummy located on the opposite end of the clearing, armed with the automated shuriken launchers they'd been utilizing earlier in the morning. "Remember, you don't have to get it on your first try; its only important that you try not to get hit-

_Ba-kram!_

Both men blanched as Naruto exploded in an unexpected burst of speed, blurring forward in a streak of blue and orange. There was a moment of silence as the launchers reacted to the sudden motion, letting fly all the shuriken and kunai as one. Naruto didn't slow, not even for an instant. One moment he seemed to be standing still the next...he'd sheathed his _Chidori_ to the elbow in the dummy they'd prepared. There was a moment of silence as he stood there, right arm fully extended, eyes narrow and intent.

Then the poor caricature shattered into a thousand pieces, showering everyone with debris. Naruto extracted his clawed hand from the remains, grinning beatifically at the sparks still scrawling across the limb. He'd evaded all the kunai without so much as a single scratch

"Yes!" He crowed, certain of his success. "I finally got it! Ha! Just wait till Sakura-chan sees this! So what's next?!" His words left both men left blinking owlishly at their student's, alarmed at their student's sudden, and unexpected progress. Especially Kakashi.

"Jiraiya-sama..." Konoha's infamous copy-nin gulped, "did he just use Hiraishin-"

"Unconcsiously." the sanin finished with a small smile. _"Tch._ You weren't kidding, Hatake. This really is Minato's brat...

"So?" Kakashi whispered as Naruto bounded toward them. "What's next?"

"I thought you had that covered!"

"Well, I didn't expect him to learn it the chidori in a single day!" Kakashi shot back. "He learned the Rasengan in half the time!"

(Flashback)

_Jiraiya grinned._

_"This is a jutsu that took the Yondaime three years to master." Jiraiya stated sagely. "I've already told you the principle of it, so it might take awhile..._

_Naruto held out his right palm and began to channel chakra into it with his left. Focus. Rotation. Force. He channeled all these elements into the palm of his hand, honing the chakra within as it took shape. It was really made to sound difficult, his newfound intelligence found it all too easy to apply the necessary amount of control._

_It was the Rasengan._

_"Like this?"_

_Jiraiya's glower was barely concealed._

_"B-But how?!"_

_(End Flashback)_

"That...had nothing to do with me!"

"Perhaps you're angry because it took you all those years to learn that jutsu?"

_"Che!"_

Jiraiya backed off, glowering. True, the boy _did_ seem to absorb jutsu at an almost prodigious rate. It had taken him slightly longer to master the chidori, but even less to understand the principle and theory behind that of Minato's original jutsu. If things continued at this rate, there wouldn't be anything left to teach him! He already seemed to be quite in control of his bloodline, so there was nothing they could do in that. Indeed, those lessons seemed wasted on him.

Unless...

* * *

_(Meanwhile...)_

"Stop!"

Hinata toppled backwards, cringing, covering her face as the genjutsu faded. The vision of her worst fear gradually began to fade away, replaced by the stern visage of her sensei. Kurenai Yuhi stared down at her, those fierce crimson eyes seeming to stare through her bore into her very soul. To peer into those blood red orbs was to step into the abyss itself. Hinata shuddered. She was called the Mistress of Genjutsu for a reason! Even so, she couldn't help but cower when faced with the memory of the illusion.

"Stand up, Hinata." her sensei demandred. "Didn't you say you wanted to grow stronger?" There was no cruelty to be heard there in her tone; but neither was there kindness either. Hinata had know ahead of timel that Kurenai-sensei's training regiment was brutal but this...this was like running her brain through a blender! How much more could she take before she broke?

"Are you going to quit?"

Struggling to conquer her fears, the heiress shook her head. She couldn't give up! Not here! She had something to prove-not just to Naruto, but herself as well. To prove that she wasn't a weakling, that she wasn't just an inexperienced girl following in someone's shadow. She'd taken after his nindo true, but from there she was determined to become her own person. That she was better for him better than Sakura. No matter the cost so long as it was within reason. Hinata didn't _hate_ Sakura after all. She simply wanted to show that she could do better. She had to...

"Then. Stand. Up." Kurenai's voice bit into her reverie and ripped her out of it.

Grimacing, Hinata obliged. Knees knocking, legs trembling, she found her footing upon the training grounds once more. A flash of sympathy flickered in Kurenai's cold eyes for the briefest instant, then it was gone. With a scowl that could make the devil himself cringe, her mentor sarted forward.

"Do you understand why I'm doing this?" Hinata found herself momentarily baffled by the question.

"To...make me stronger?"

"In a sense, yes." was the reply.

"There is physical strength and then there is mental strength." Kurenai slowed to a halt and held up a single finger. "Sakura may have the advantage in the former, so we're going to work on the latter first. Remember, you don't have to defeat an enemy in close combat. You just have to break them. Once you've understood that, _then_ I'll try to teach you my technique. We'll utilize your newfound Jyuuken style as a last resort if we all but have to. Remember, you just might stand a chance against Sakura, but only if you fight with your head, and not your heart. Now, are you prepared?"

"H-Hai!"

"Then brace yourself!"

Hinata did just that as Kurenai cast the genjutsu again...

* * *

"So...why did you bring me way out here?" Naruto asked sometime later as they stood in the wilderness. He'd been brought out here all of a sudden, and asked if he had any regrets. What a strange question to ask! He had none! The Chunin Exams were fast approaching, his relaitionship with Sakura had never been better, and he'd already mastered two A-Rank Jutsu in less than a week! What more could he ask for! When he told this to his mentors, only silence greeted him.

Kakashi and Jiraiya exchanged a glance.

"Sorry," was all Jiraiya said as he pushed Naruto with enough force to send him well, very far back. When Naruto finally stopped he found that he was in the middle of a deep cavern, suspended over the abyss. For a moment he did just that; he hung there, waiting for something to happen. Then gravity sank its claws into him and he began to fall. He tried to use his chakra to grip the sides but they were too wet. He then tried to use his chakra swords, but due to the speed he was falling at he couldn't get them into the wall fast or deep enough. Just as Jiraiya had planned, he was backed into a corner and would now have to use the power of his tenant to survive.

"YOU MOTHER FUUUUUUU-

Any minute now...

"Are you certain he's alright?" Kakashi glanced down into the ravine worriedly.

"He'll be fine." Jiraiya reasusred. "If he's anything like Minato, he'll-

_POOF!_

A thunderous explosion of smoke and steam erupted from within the revine, showering the pair in mist.

"Ha!" The sanin cackled triumphantly. "You owe me a hundred yen, Kakashi!"

"I never made a bet with you, Jiraiya-sama...

Together they peered into the smoke

Laying there in the gorge was a giant toad.

To his relief, he saw Naruto sitting on top of the toad's head. Both boy and toad were swearing up a storm. There was only one problem. That toad was Gamabunta! The Toad Boss! For Naruto to have summoned him, out of allthe toads...

"Jiraiya!" The toad boss roared, "What the hell am I doing here?!"

"Geh!" the sanin choked. "You've gotta be kidding me...

"You reap what you sow." Kakashi shrugged.

"Gyahahaha!" Gamabunta cackled below, responding to something Naruto must've said. "As if I'd belive that a puny little snot like you could someone me!"

"But its true! I did summon you!"

Naruto glared at the toad for a moment longer and let his rage build; both men could feel his killer intent from here.

Then he summoned the chains.

Gamabunta hadn't been expecting that; he'd just enough time to snarl before the blonde pierced his back and locked himself into place. His weapons didn't dig deep; just enough to bind himself to the boss without fear of plummeting to his death. Bunta's response, you ask?

"Leggo of me, brat!"

"Fuck you!" Naruto snapped! "I'm not letting go!"

"This is going to take awhile, isn't it?" Kakashi was already pulling out his orange book.

Jiraiya's right eye twitched.

"Show some faith in him, damnit!"

* * *

_(Hours later)_

"Well I'll be damned...

Jiraiya scratched at the back of his head as he surveyed the destruction the toad boss had wrought. Half the forest had been leveled during his attempt to free himself of the bothersome blond and still more destruction stretched out to the west in the face of the setting sun. To think, Naruto would've succeeded where even the Fourth Hokage had failed...

"Shit, I didn't expect him to beat you, Bunta-san."

"Hmph!" The Toad Boss harrumphed, his voice thundering down on them. "The brat got lucky!"

"Bullshit!" Naruto barked, retracting his weapons and staggering to his feet. "I won, fair and square! I'm your master now, got it?"

"Grrrr!"

The blonde chuckled for a moment longer before his eyelids began to droop. True, he'd managed to hang on well past the time limit, but he'd all but exhausted himself in doing. To say that he was running on fumes by now was moot in point. He could barely stand, let alone walk. And he was tired. So very tired. He could just close his eyes right now and nod off. Yes, that seemed like a good idea. An excellent idea...

"I...think I'll take a nap now...

Naruto didn't know when he fell, only that he did and Kakashi was there to catch him. Yes. Sleep. That...

_...sounded quite nice right about now._

**A/N: And there you have it! After so many months away from this story I have finally returned! I sincerely hope ya'll have been enjoying my MASSIVE updating spree as of late! Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into me; my muse has gone into overdrive and she's been pestering me nonstop to update! Even though I need to find a job up in York to replace the one I have down here in Atlgen(commuting an hour and a half back and fourth is a total b**ch by the way) my mind is irrevocably on my stories. A lot has happened in this chapter and I would've liked to add more-sadly however, work is calling my name.**

**I look forward to reading your many reviews later tonight, dear readers! If you're wondering what happened to Sakura...well, you'll see soon enough hehehe...! Chunin Exam Finals start next chap and of course, we get to see Hinata vs Sakura...gee, that'll be a catfight for the ages!**

**So...in the immortal words of Atlas...**

**...Review...Would Ya Kindly? And of course, enjoy the previews!)**

**(Preview)**

_Naruto actually laughed at his opponent's remark; the sound carried across the stadium and cascaded into the stands. _

_"You're right!" he admitted cheerfully. "The training that my senseis' had planned for me only took a few days to master. What I learned the three weeks after that; that's going to knock your socks off." Raising his right hand, he summoned a rasengan to his palm. In his left crackled the sound of a thousand birds. "Hey, what do you get when you combine a Rasengan and a chidori? Don't know? I'll tell ya. __When these two techniques of my sensei become one...an even greater jutsu is formed! You should be thankful! You'll be the first to see it!"_

_Grinning he, smashed both palms together, mashing the rasengan and chidori into one. Creating..._

_The ultimate jutsu!_

**R&R! =D**


End file.
